The apostle Paul speaks of the relationship of the husband and wife and how we must emulate Christ and His church. Paul however is concerned with the big picture with the very heart of Paul's admonition to hold a sanctified and holy life. "Let your conversation (walk) be...." He couples it with the concept of time as he explains that we do this by redeeming and seizing the time to walk sanctified upward to heaven.
Meaning- We and our children are allotted time which affords us opportunities and responsibility. Paul approaches this from the word conversation or walk/lifestyle. Your walk should be circumspect and we must redeem it as it should be characterized as we are children of the light! He pairs life and time together as the pilgrims journey is marked by time that we all fill with content. The calling of the child of God here is to be circumspect. Paul also adds when we do that we will also pair it with widsom. We must be circumspect...a circle. We must know the territory and walk accordingly. We do not just walk into fire. We walk judiciously so we do not step into a trap or off the edge of a cliff and we can only do so if we walk in wisdom says Paul. A fool builds their house upon the sand which is washed away being erosive while the wise man's house continues to stand. We know conventional wisdom and Paul is speaking about that very thing from a spiritual viewpoint. It is Christ and Him crucified! Foolish to men who are not wise though they may have practical and horizontal knowledge of many things. Only God applies to the heart so one can see the many facets of knowledge and wisdom in Christ whereby we can discern things and truly walk circumspectly and evaluate and pass judgment on as we discern our steps in the very circumstance we are in at the moment. God has given us a spirit of a sound mind!
Manner: We are told to redeem the time. Where do we step or what is the content of that time for you and I? We waste time when it is devoid of content. We are called to utilize our time or in other words it may NOT be devoid of content and must be wisely seized and used! Children use their time to acquire knowledge as He gives us that as adults to buy out of time wisely and in wisdom. How can we fill this hour to the glory of God? How can we us this time for the Kingdom? How can we use it positively and spiritually? We understand that all waste has no place. We are called to seek the glory of God and His kingdom. Is our time all about laying up heavenly treasures that last?
Urgency: Every moment is a temptation to vanity and to waste it to foolishness instead of buying our time out. We live in evil days with a world that beckons us to join them in their pleasure madness and their own glory and in things that have zero to do with God or His kingdom. It is all foolishness in the end and they fill their entire lives with vanity to their ultimate end of eternal destruction. But...the time He gives to us and our families we will buy it out to His glory and for his Kingdom all in wisdom as we watch and direct our steps carefully in wisdom. That is how we will walk circumspectly to His glory and for the glory of His kingdom which by the way is our ETERNAL HOME!
"Spiritual Stewardship" I Peter 4:10&11 Peter approaches the churches to the elect strangers scattered abroad....the churches of God in this world, emphasizing both the sufferings of the time and the glory of God in all things. We too are...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"The Lord Willing" James 4:13-16 & Matthew 6 James continues to express concern for the fighting in the congregation as the Lord gives them over as they had asked of Him amiss. We too must learn how to ask of God in order to receive His grace...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Divine Joy!" John 15:11 A theme that is so prevalent even in the world today especially around the holiday seasons...joy! It is also something that very soon disappears and escapes us. The Lord Himself applies that concept of joy even amist what...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Verifying Acceptance" Ephesians 5:10 We look at a phrase our of a verse and a modifier that we are children of the Light and must walk in HIS light and countenance. How are we going to walk in the light? Paul says in this phrase we must walk by...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Exercising the mind of Christ" Philippians 2:5 The epistle of Paul is the most "pastoral" of Paul speaking of his love to his congregation. Paul plays on the idea of the mind here. What do we mean by the mind? We can speak of it as intellect, but...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Maintaining our Profession" Hebrews 4:13&14, Psalm 139 Most commentators would not deal with these two verses together. (They are the dividing of sections.) These verses are a sidebar in the chapter. In the connection whereby many in the Old...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"The Christian Character" Phil 4:8 The Philemon congregation was Paul's beloved and his loving concern is shown in these letters. Paul puts his concern at the end of his letter (as a lawyer with closing arguments does to leave his lasting...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"The Christian's Life View" Psalm 37:1-7/ Psalm 73 From time to time and in the many things that affect our lives my thoughts turned here. A colleague had cancer and had a leg amputated, a little girl had successful surgery, and many things take...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
