Watch Your Walk Series

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful (see), then, how you live (walk)—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of (redeeming) every opportunity (time-kronos), because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish (foolish-lacking the inner perspective-watching again-that fails to see cause-and-effect relationships), but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Watch Your Walk Understand the Days

Not non-Sophia, but Sophia . . . walk not as unwise, but as wise.

If the days were evil in Paul’s day, they are more so now. We need to pursue wisdom and knowledge and provide answers to the world, not get so caught up in our own mess of a life that we have nothing to offer but questions.

The Proverbs have a lot to say about wisdom. Here’s a sampling:

Proverbs 3:13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,

14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.

19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;

20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

This isn’t a message on the Proverbs, so just a few points on this passage:

• Wisdom is a blessing, which brings rich dividends.

• Wisdom extends and enriches your life

• Wisdom is creative.

It’s the wise way we are called to walk:

Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth & the Life & no one comes to the Father except through me”. (John 14:7)

Watch Your Walk.

Isaiah 30:19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Recent research indicates we learn more effectively if we have models to follow. Where are the teachers today? James said “don’t be many of you teachers, my brothers, knowing that we bring upon ourselves a greater condemnation” (James 3:1). Yet we need examples to model our spiritual lives after, and so many of the people we may have thought of as models have proven to be broken. God would call some of us to stand firm and set a standard for others to follow. We must. One of the standards we have to set is how we make use of time.

Proverbs also says that wisdom is accessible

Proverbs 8: I love those who love me,

and those who seek me find me.

I think most of us often feel like we don’t have the wisdom required to do what is required of us. But we have to ask. We have to seek wisdom. That requires time devoted to seeking what is right.

Watch your Time Understand the Times

All we have is time. And it’s short.

Psalm 90 says our lives are like a mist that comes in the morning and then is gone away.

A physicist might define time as the direction of the arrow of entropy-a measure of the increase of chaos and the diminution of complex and dense formations of mass. Some would describe time as the progression and direction of cause-and-effect. But the Bible doesn’t describe time that way. For us as humans on this earth, time is the stuff of life.

How do we use our time?

1. Around the world, the average amount of sleep is about seven and a half hours (women sleep about 30 minutes longer than men). (http://time.com/4319909/sleep-habits-country/) That’s more than 200,000 hours of sleep-about one-third of a life time.

2. On average we spend about 8 hours a day working (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm)

3. On average, people spend about 7-8 hours a day in front of a screen-tv, or net, or social media. (www.bbc.com/news/technology-32067158 )

That leaves about thirty minutes to an hour for everything else, including eating, bathing, and other necessary functions.

THAT IS OUR WHOLE LIFE.

Where is the time for important things? If we are going to invest our time in prayer or doing anything productive beyond the ordinary, we’ll have to do things differently from the average person.