Ephesians Chapter 5

(This next section expounds upon what Paul was talking about in Colossians. Ephesians 5, v.15- chapter 6 will help me better understand what Paul was saying in Colossians 3.)

Verse 16“‘Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.'” (NLT) The ESV version says “Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” It means to not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Remember, His will is His word. The Bible. The NLT version says “don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” So from this, I take away that we need to redeem the time… It is making the best use of it… By getting rid of the pleasures and distractions of the world that are hindering us from God’s best. There are endless things leading us astray. We should be eager to recover the time. To let go of offenses that people have done to us and things that are just keeping us busy. We need to awaken our minds and be watching out for the devil. 1 Peter 5:8 says to “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The devil is constantly trying to break up our relationships with our spouse, with our family, with our friends. In relationship is God’s way of life. He is in a relationship with Jesus, his son, and the Holy Spirit. God was made in relationship and created us in His image to be in relationship with each other. The Bible talks about we are better together and that when we are in a relationship with others, it is harder for the devil to get out of us. But when we are alone, the devil can corner us and convince us of all the things that are not true. The devil is conniving and can make us spiral in our minds to a place where we surrender to him and give ourselves over to his evil schemes.

So today I am going to focus on redeeming the time. Not getting caught up in a bunch of distractions, arguments, idle/unprofitable conversations, and busy work but really keeping my mind focused on God’s best for me and being AWAKE to God’s will and work being done in me and around me.

Verse 18“‘And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.'” (NLT) There’s a reason the Bible tells us not to get drunk. A lot of people think this is just some law that God put in the Bible but the reason it says do not get drunk is because when we get drunk we don’t have self-control and we make a lot of mistakes. We’re not able to restrain ourselves from the fleshly desires that lust and throw themselves at everything. I can testify to the wisdom in this scripture. Whatever causes you to lose self-control is not a good thing. When the flesh has its way to do whatever it wants, it often makes lots of mistakes that leave only regrets.

And then right after it tells us not to be drunk, it says to be filled with the Holy Spirit… making music in our hearts to God. Verse 20 says “giving thanks for everything to God”. There are so many benefits to living in God’s will and we should always have a fresh reason to pause and say “thank you, God” and praise God. Several years ago a friend of mine took up a challenge to only listen to Christian music for 30 days. She loved it so much that after the 30 days she continued on with the challenge. And that really challenged me because I know what happens in my heart when I’m absorbed in Christian music. I have more joy on the inside. I find myself praising God with my lips on the outside. I took up the challenge and really liked it. I still like listening to other music. I love music so much. But, now I have a child. And I want to be mindful of what I’m filling her mind with. Not just with my music but with what I say. With how I behave. So I’m very intentional about the music I’m playing with her. We play Christian music in our house and in our car. We sing and dance to it. I expose her to other music but I try to keep the main music we play Christian. And also when good things happen, I am very vocal around her to thank God. I usually do a silly cheer when something good happens. I say “gooooooo God!” As my arm shoots in the air like a cheerleader. And my little girl finds it so fun. Which is good. I used to do these silly little things with just myself. So this is not asking me to do too much more except to be intentional with it around her.

Verse 22 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church…” (NLT) whew! I think the biggest takeaway here is that wives cannot obey Jesus without yielding obedience to their husbands. Our husband’s authority is resembled in Jesus being the head of the church.

Verse 25 “‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.'” (NLT) Husbands must cherish their wives and bear Christ’s image, be a representative of Jesus to his wife.

Verse 28 “‘In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.'” (NLT) When we got married (or get married), we became one flesh. We are one body at that point. The husband must love the wife as one flesh, his one, and only body. Just as Christ loves the church – the church is made up of members of Christ’s body.

Verse 31 ‘“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”’ (NLT) A man leaves his father and mother for his wife and the two become one flesh. This basically points out that once we get married, we do not set aside the other duties as a daughter to our parents, sisters to our siblings, but we prioritize our husband, our marriage, above them. Marriage is more sacred than the other ties or duties and responsibilities.

Verse 33 “‘However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.'” (NLT) Our respect for our husband leads us to submit. Just like our reverence for Jesus leads us to submit to His word and what He calls us to do. It’s really hard to hear the word submission because it can come across as a very demanding term. And it feels like it downgrades wives, or takes authority away from us. And no one likes to be told what to do. Especially an adult. Once we become an adult and are out from under our parent’s authority, we are set free! And that’s exciting to make our own decisions for ourselves. But once we chose to be married, we put ourselves under the authority of our husband. We still have opinions and responsibilities to help lead our family, but we give all of the final decision-making over to our husbands. We let them lead. We present our ideas and ask for his authority – stamp of approval – and then we act. Everything must pass through his final say. We should submit to the husband as we submit to Jesus. When we are not submitting to our husbands, our lives are out of alignment on earth and with God. It’s like your car drifting on the road without you holding the steering wheel in place. Your car is out of alignment and so it drifts into the weeds or the ditch, off the path or road you should be on. Our lives will drift into the weeds if we are not in proper alignment with God.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me make the best use of my time today. Help me be productive in the things you call me to work at for the glory of Your name. Show me what your will is for me today. Help me to throw off distractions and recover the time in my day. Help me to live in relationships with the people in my life and not have divisions. Fill me with your Spirit that I might operate with self-control today over my words, my mind, my body. Thank you Jesus for all you’ve done for me and continue to do. Thank you for showing me Your Word and opening up my mind to understand it. Help me to live today full of thanksgiving and praise to you for all things. Continue to bring fresh reasons to my mind that I can be thankful for. This is where I want my heart to dwell. Dear Jesus, help me to submit to my husband today and yield to his command for our family. And help my husband to love me as his own body. To love me as you designed a husband to love his wife. Help me to prioritize my husband and our marriage above the kids, above our work, above the house. Help me to respect my husband today. Bring ideas to my husband’s mind on how he can love me and care for me by your design, Jesus. We want to live in alignment with Your will, God. Help us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.