Apr. 09, 2021

Good Morning Fellow Travelers,

Read: Ephesians 5:1-21

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Ephesians 5:15 

The letter came to Ephesus from Rome.  We can imagine the Ephesian Christians wondering about Paul’s freedom to write the letter.  Was he bound to a Roman soldier?  They probably noted that Tychicus had penned the letter, so Paul must have dictated it to him.  Paul was a prisoner of Rome, and also of the Lord Jesus, as he liked to say.  

How many letters did the apostle write as a prisoner?  Many.  God had taken Paul by the hand and brought him from a busy, active life to a prison.  He slowed him down for a purpose.  How the church has been blessed by these letters!  

God wants us all to slow down.  The high-tech world we live in is taking us all captive.  Its mad rush is robbing us of so much that is good.  Slow down before the Lord must slow you down.  His methods are not always pleasant.  How would you like a jail term?  A terminal illness?  A debilitating disease with physical handicaps?  God will slow us down.  

Paul had learned this.  The key word in the text is “walk”.  “Walk in love” (v. 2).  Love is not something we run away with.  Following God is a walk in love.  “Walk as children of light” (v. 8).  He calls us here to slow down and think before you act.  He lists many things that we run into: covetousness, uncleanness, foolishness, silly joking, sexual impurity.  We have come away from this darkness, now walk in light.  

His last challenge is to walk circumspectly (v. 15).  This means walk, looking around.  It’s hard to run, looking around.  Slow down, redeem the time.  In other words, make good use of it.  This comes much easier if we walk.  Bless your family, your neighbors, by walking and talking, and singing, and giving thanks. 

~ James Baer