"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 | |||
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Careful Living | |||
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"We want you to be a careful driver." That's what
Beth and I told our youngest daugther as we resume her driving lessons.
She's back from a mission trip and now Beth and I want to she her
quickly learn to drive and receive her license. But of course our top
concern in it all is that Joanna proceed carefully and safely. Buckle the
seat belt, check the mirrors, watch the road, look ahead, drive the speed
limit, and on and on and on. Be careful. In our text for this Sunday, Ephesians 5:15-20, Paul asked his readers to be careful about how they live. Yet it wasn't really safety with which he was concerned. There's a note that threads through this text asking us to be careful not to waste our lives, to use our time well, to live in Christ and with each other in a way that is consistent with the will of God and with the direction of His Spirit. Verse 16 literally begins, "redeeming the time. . ." The NIV's "making the most of every opportunity" is a little too entrepreneurial and success oriented for my taste. I prefer the more literal sense that we are asked to make good use of the time with which God has blessed us, to live our lives in ways that turn our days and hours and minutes to those pursuits and activities which honor and glorify God and bless the people around us. The text warns against foolishness and drunkenness and debauchery. It's not so much that these things are evil or have bad effects (they are and they do), but that they waste the precious gift of the time we have to praise and serve God in this life. However, lest anyone think that Paul is a killjoy, asserting a kind of spiritual work ethic which demands we make the best practical use of every moment, always laboring to achieve great things for the Kingdom, we come to verse 19. A perfectly good and not at all wasteful expression of life filled with God's Spirit is music. Singing all sorts of songs to each other and humming praise to God in one's heart is fine way to redeem our time. God's will is not to make us productive worker drones but to make us people of praise and thanksgiving. Isn't that what Paul means by living carefully? | |||
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Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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