Today’s Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
What are your thoughts on jelly-filled donuts? Have you ever bit into a donut not realizing it was filled with something? Or have you ever anticipated the cream cheese filling only to find nothing inside your pastry? Have you ever bit into a chocolate with no idea what to expect?
Sometimes life gives us what we did not ask for, what we did not choose. In that moment of realization, we have another choice to make. We can react emotionally to the unexpected circumstance in our life or we can proactively give it to God and ask Him to guide our response.
MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY.
We have so many choices in life. We can choose to focus on the future this world has to offer us or the future God has to offer. We can seek satisfaction with what the world tries to fill us with or allow God to fill us with His presence. We cannot choose both. We either choose one or INSTEAD choose the other. Paul lays out theses options for us in his letter to the Church at Ephesus:
Be filled with the sin nature or instead filled with God
Be filled with ourselves or instead filled with Christ’s love
Be filled with immorality, impurity and greed or instead filled with thankfulness
Be filled with the darkness of the world or instead filled with the light from the Lord
Be filled with what pleases you or instead filled with what pleases the Lord
Be filled with what the world offers or with what God offers
So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. INSTEAD, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Ephesians 5:15-20
BE AVAILABLE.
Paul warns us to be careful how we live. God has a plan for our lives and He wants us to be available to Him EVERY moment of EVERY day. His plan is for us to make the most of EVERY opportunity. You may be familiar with this verse, but have you considered the context that verse is coming from. It’s another either / or decision – be filled with the sensual pleasures of this world or filled with the Spirit; live like fools or like those who are wise.
There are some things we can fill our lives with that alter our ability to make the most of every opportunity. Paul uses the example of wine here. There are inherent dangers in the consumption of wine that set it apart from most other things we can consume. Paul warns us here that it can ruin your life. Alcohol has the potential to alter our ability to make a good decision. It does not just quench our thirst but it influences us — it changes personalities, it breaks down inhibitions, it leaves you craving more.
BE FILLED.
But God says – crave ME! Don’t go looking for what the world has to offer in order to find pleasure, but let me be the One to bring you satisfaction – to alter you into the person I want you to be. Be filled with MY Spirit and spend your time giving praise to ME, giving thanks to ME. Understand what I want you to do! Beware of things like alcohol that have the potential to derail you from the life that I have planned for you.
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. — Colossians 4:2-6
BE ALERT.
Pray for many opportunities. Proclaim God’s message clearly. Live wisely. Make the most of every opportunity. Over and over again, God has focused my attention on His plan for my life. He created each of us for a purpose. He died on a cross so that we could serve Him, so that He could work through us to bring others to Christ.
God has a plan for our lives and He wants us to be available to Him every moment of every day, ready and alert. His plan is for us to make the most of EVERY opportunity. Let’s guard our hearts and our minds from ANYTHING that might take away our ability to do just that. Let’s make the most of today.