Second Sunday Meditation: Look Carefully And Then How You Walk!

"I will accept you graciously as a pleasant odor

when I lead you out from the peoples and gather you

out of the countries in which you have been scattered,

and I will manifest My holiness among you in the sight

of the nations who will seek Me because of

My power displayed in you."

Ezekiel 20:41

The Apostle Paul in Prison
Rembrandt van Rijn
(1627)

This excerpt from Paul's letter to

the church at Ephesus is a message which is

 as relevant for believers in Christ today as it was

when it was first written during the apostle's

two year imprisonment in Rome in the year 60 A.D.

"Therefore be imitators of God, copy Him and follow

His example, as well-beloved children imitate their father.

And walk in love, esteeming and delighting in one another

as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us,

a slain offering and sacrifice to God for you,

so that it became a sweet fragrance.

But immorality, sexual vice, and all impurity,

of lustful, rich, and wasteful living or greediness must

not even be named among you, as is fitting and proper among

saints, God's consecrated people.

Let there be no filthiness, obscenity, indecency, nor foolish

and sinful, silly and corrupt talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not

fitting or becoming, but instead voice your thankfulness to God.

For be sure of this: that no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in

thought or in life, or one who is covetous, who has lustful desire for the

property of others and is greedy for gain-for they in effect are idolators-

has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless

arguments, for these are sins;  for these things the wrath of God comes

upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience.

So do not associate or be sharers with them.

For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord,

walk as children of the Light, lead the lives of those native-born to the Light.

For the fruit, the effect, the product of the Light, or the Holy Spirit consists,

in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.

And try to learn in your experience what is pleasing to the Lord, let your

lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to Him.

Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and

enterprises of darkness, but instead let your lives be so in contrast as to

expose and reprove and convict them.

For it is a shame even to speak of or mention the things that such

people practice in secret. But when anything is exposed and reproved by

the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is

visible and clear there is light.

Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,

and Christ shall shine, make day dawn upon you, and give you light.

Look carefully and then how you walk!

Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and

the witless, but as wise, sensible and intelligent people. 

Making the very most of the time, buying up each opportunity,

because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but

understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but  ever be

filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit.

Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

offering praise with voices, and instruments, and making melody

with all your hearts to the Lord.

At all times and for everything give thanks in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ and to God the Father.  Be subject to one another out of

reverence for Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One."

Ephesians 5:1-21

Ancient church ruins in Ephesus, Turkey

Walk in the light; so shalt thou know

That fellowship of love

His Spirit only can bestow

Who reigns in light above.

Walk in the light and sin abhorred

Shall ne'er defile again;

The blood of Jesus Christ, thy Lord,

Shall cleanse from every stain.

Walk in the light and thou shalt find

Thy heart made truly His

Who dwells in cloudless light enshrined

In whom no darkness is.

Walk in the light and thou shalt own

Thy darkness passed away,

Because that light hath on thee shone

In which is perfect day.

Walk in the light and e'en the tomb

No fearful shade shall wear;

Glory shall chase away its gloom,

For Christ has conquered there.

Walk in the light: and thine shall be

A path, though thorny, bright;

For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee,

And God Himself is light.

"Walk In The Light"

Words by Bernard Barton

(1826)

Music by Thomas Haweis
(1792)