MAKE THE BEST USE OF YOUR TIME

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15-16

There are moments every day to be grasped for God and many are missing out on these moments and Scripture is clear that we don’t know  how many more of these moments we will have, so we need to be making the most of every opportunity that God has given us.  C.T. Studd once said,

“Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.” 

This is what it looks like to walk worthy—it’s to make every moment count.  It’s to live each and every moment for God as if it’s our last; because it might be.  How would our lives look different if we truly took this to heart—if we truly grasped the fact that we are all going to die someday, maybe today?  How would our lives look differently if we lived with this mentality and made every moment for God count?

In verse 16, Paul says, “(We must do this) because the days are evil.”  Since the fall, we have been living in dark days.  The majority of people are living their lives apart from and opposed to God and we are wasting time and missing opportunities to minister to them.  MacArthur said it like this...

"Every day there's an opportunity, there's a golden jewel that God places in front of you that can be grabbed for His glory. Some people are always going to pray and they're going to get down to business to study the Bible and they're going to serve the Lord and they're going to tell their neighbor about Christ and they're going to read the Bible. They just never get to it. The greatest fool in the world is the fool who wastes time."

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, that’s got to change.  He says, “Because you have been changed, that’ got to change.”  Paul says, “Because you have been raised from death to life—because you have been made new, do not continue to walk as you once walked, but walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called by walking in wisdom making best use of the time because the days are evil.”  

"Quote" of the Week

“Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.”  C.T. Studd 

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  Ephesians 5:1

In this verse of Scripture Paul gives us a very clear yet challenging word on how we as believers are to “walk worthy” and live the Christian life.  He says, “be imitators of God."  This verse is the bottom line on the Christian life.  This is the central principle for “walking worthy.”  If someone were to ask you what the Christian life looks like, you could share with them this verse—You  could tell them that we as believers are to be “imitators of God.” 

The word translated imitators is the Greek word mimetai.  It’s where we get our word mimic.  It simply means, “to do what someone else does.”  Used here, Paul is telling us that we are to imitate God—we are to be like him—we are to do what he does.  And this is not the only time we are told this in the Scriptures.  Jesus called for His followers to be imitators of God.  In Matthew 5:48, he said,

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Peter also made this point in 1 Peter 1:15 when he said,

As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.   

This is what God wants from us.  He wants us to be like Him and live like Him.  He wants us be imitators of Him.  He tells his people from the start, “You are my people and I’m your God and my desire for you is for you to be like me.”  In Leviticus 11:45, God says to His people Israel,

You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

And that’s what God wants from us.  He wants us to be imitators of Him.  Now here’s the thing, this is easier said than done.  Truth is we can’t do it on our own.

When explaining to his followers how to live the Christian Life in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said it starts with you being broken—it starts with you being poor in spirit.  You must mourn over your weakness and your sinfulness so that you will hunger and thirst for righteousness. 

There is a great paradox here.  On the one hand we are called to be like God, but on the other hand we cannot be like Him by our own strength.  We need outside help and Scripture is clear where that outside help comes from.  It comes from God. 

God provides the help needed for us to be like him.  He gives us His Holy Spirit, who gives us the power and the ability to “Walk Worthy” for Him.  The Holy Spirit enables us to imitate God.  Paul makes this point earlier in Ephesians.  He says that it is the Father who strengthens us with power through his Spirit in our inner being (Eph. 3:16).

"Quote" of the Week

"The Christian has no greater calling or purpose than imitating His Lord."  -John MacArthur

Is it OK to get angry?  Scripture says that it is.  In fact, we are told in God’s word that certain things should anger us.  For example, God’s Word says that we are to be grieved by things that grieve God.  We are to hate what He hates, which is the sin in our lives and world, and we are to be opposed to any and everything that hinders and hurts His cause. 

Unfortunately, more often than not, that’s not what upsets us.  We get angry over much smaller matters that matter little for eternity.  We get angry when people offend us and drag our names through the mud and attack our character and thwart our plans, but not so much when it comes to God.  Though it’s not a bad thing to be upset when people treat you unjustly and talk negatively about you; you need to make sure that your zeal for God, and your desire for His name to be great, and your passion for His Kingdom to advance is priority one in your life.

"Quote" of the Week

"It’s not always a sin to be angry. There are appropriate times to feel and express anger. Yet, many times people tell us that we shouldn’t feel that way about the wrongs we’ve suffered. This type of counsel is both unbiblical and unhelpful.

God has a long wick and is slow to anger. But we are told throughout the Bible that God does get angry in response to sin…Righteous anger is the right response to sin. This is a far more consistent response with the character of God than faking happiness, approval, or acceptance. The Bible, on many occasions, gives us examples of human anger that is justified. This is why Paul didn’t say, 'Don’t be angry,' but rather, said, 'Be angry, and do not sin.'

Paul accepted anger as a legitimate emotional response to sin. But he also warned us to be careful not to accept or empower anger that comes from our own sin. Instead, he said, we should harness the energy of our anger toward righteousness rather than letting it fuel our descent into clamor, slander, and malice."

As Christians, we are new creations. Our hearts of stone have been turned into hearts of flesh. In this metaphor, flesh is used as a positive figure, not a pejorative one. Where once my heart was cold and recalcitrant, dead and inert to the things of God, now it throbs and pulsates with spiritual life. Once I was biologically alive but spiritually dead. Now I am biologically alive and spiritually alive as well. I am a new person.

There is radical discontinuity between my new self and my old self. This radical discontinuity, however, is not total discontinuity. A link between the old man and the new man remains. The old man has been dealt a mortal blow. His total destruction is certain, but he is not yet dead.

The conflict of the Christian life is a struggle with sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us if we are in Christ, yet sin is still in us. Regeneration liberates us from the bondage of original sin, but our corrupt nature is not totally annihilated this side of heaven.

Paul speaks of the warfare that goes on between the flesh and the spirit. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Gal. 5:17).

For more on why new creations still struggle, click HERE and listen to, "WALKING WORTHY BY WALKING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.".

"Quote" of the Week

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and...be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and...put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.  Ephesians 4:22-24