Making good decisions
This week is on Ephesians 5:15-20:
Time is evil, if you let it be. It kills people, wrecks cars and houses, reduces clothes to tatters, and breaks anything that's exposed to enough of it. If only we had a plan or a law to stop time. The world would be eternally beautiful and you'd only have to build things once. That's the fantasy.
The reality is that time can also be good. The days are evil, but they can be redeemed. We have to be wise, not foolish, in how we use our time. God has a plan for our lives, and we're given time to carry it out. We have to be careful how we live. We can make wise decisions or we can make foolish decisions. We'll be tested over and over again until we die.
In the middle of all of this, Paul says not to get drunk on wine, because it leads to debauchery. Note that he doesn't say not to drink wine, but just not to get drunk on it. Elsewhere, he tells Timothy to drink wine. Jesus' first miracle was making wine out of water. I stress this, because there's a kind of heresy that has crept into American Christianity which stresses that a thing can be evil, rather than the misuse of that thing. If wine is primarily for getting drunk, you're doing it wrong.
Paul calls out wine and warns that using it to get drunk leads to debauchery. Debauchery is giving oneself over to harmful self-indulgence. Drunkenness dulls your sensibilities, your spiritual hearing, the moral compass which God installed in us. God struck two priests dead in the old testament for ministering at the altar while drunk. Drunkenness is a firing offense on oil platforms and in other occupations where making wise timely decisions matters. Those men still drink, but they don't show up to work drunk. That's an important distinction.
There are some people who can't or shouldn't drink alcohol at all. The only shame is in not knowing it. People who cannot handle alcohol should not be ashamed to abstain from it. Doing so is a point of honor. It means you know your limitations and are willing to do what it takes not to be overcome by them. The rest of us should look to those people as an example and a warning. It is possible for a thing to overcome us if we let it. Alcohol isn't itself evil, but neither is it universally good.
The same can be said for other things. I know people who need to stay away from violent movies, angry music, horror films, talk radio, and all sorts of stuff. When I need to be productive, I have to avoid television completely. Does that make those things evil? If they're not evil, does that mean we should abandon all caution when exposing ourselves to them? I know a guy who can't eat peanuts because he falls into gluttony when he has them. Good for him for distancing himself! I still eat peanuts. They have no effect on me. But I don't pretend that immunity is universal.
So these things that lead you into harmful self-indulgence are to be used with caution or avoided. We only have so much time. Life doesn't wait for us to get our act together. Do we want to waste that time separated from God's voice, drunk or stoned, angry or consumed in lust, stuffing our faces, tranquilizing our brains in front of the TV set? It's our choice. God has made us free.
Every day is an opportunity. Will we allow the day to be evil, and to steal from us and destroy what we have, or will we approach God to redeem it? If you want to throw yourself headlong into something, throw yourself into a relationship with God. Be thankful in the moment for what God has provided you, and acknowledge him in your time spent with others.
If you have to give something up, do it with your head held high. If doing so prevents it from stealing your time or destroying lives, it's a noble act. Replace it with something connected to God. Spend your newfound time around Christians, praying, worshiping, reading, meditating on God's total awesomeness, etc. It is good and wise to be careful how you live. The days are evil unless we ask God to make them otherwise. Understand God's will for your life. Then you can make some good decisions with the time you have left.
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Time is evil, if you let it be. It kills people, wrecks cars and houses, reduces clothes to tatters, and breaks anything that's exposed to enough of it. If only we had a plan or a law to stop time. The world would be eternally beautiful and you'd only have to build things once. That's the fantasy.
The reality is that time can also be good. The days are evil, but they can be redeemed. We have to be wise, not foolish, in how we use our time. God has a plan for our lives, and we're given time to carry it out. We have to be careful how we live. We can make wise decisions or we can make foolish decisions. We'll be tested over and over again until we die.
In the middle of all of this, Paul says not to get drunk on wine, because it leads to debauchery. Note that he doesn't say not to drink wine, but just not to get drunk on it. Elsewhere, he tells Timothy to drink wine. Jesus' first miracle was making wine out of water. I stress this, because there's a kind of heresy that has crept into American Christianity which stresses that a thing can be evil, rather than the misuse of that thing. If wine is primarily for getting drunk, you're doing it wrong.
Paul calls out wine and warns that using it to get drunk leads to debauchery. Debauchery is giving oneself over to harmful self-indulgence. Drunkenness dulls your sensibilities, your spiritual hearing, the moral compass which God installed in us. God struck two priests dead in the old testament for ministering at the altar while drunk. Drunkenness is a firing offense on oil platforms and in other occupations where making wise timely decisions matters. Those men still drink, but they don't show up to work drunk. That's an important distinction.
There are some people who can't or shouldn't drink alcohol at all. The only shame is in not knowing it. People who cannot handle alcohol should not be ashamed to abstain from it. Doing so is a point of honor. It means you know your limitations and are willing to do what it takes not to be overcome by them. The rest of us should look to those people as an example and a warning. It is possible for a thing to overcome us if we let it. Alcohol isn't itself evil, but neither is it universally good.
The same can be said for other things. I know people who need to stay away from violent movies, angry music, horror films, talk radio, and all sorts of stuff. When I need to be productive, I have to avoid television completely. Does that make those things evil? If they're not evil, does that mean we should abandon all caution when exposing ourselves to them? I know a guy who can't eat peanuts because he falls into gluttony when he has them. Good for him for distancing himself! I still eat peanuts. They have no effect on me. But I don't pretend that immunity is universal.
So these things that lead you into harmful self-indulgence are to be used with caution or avoided. We only have so much time. Life doesn't wait for us to get our act together. Do we want to waste that time separated from God's voice, drunk or stoned, angry or consumed in lust, stuffing our faces, tranquilizing our brains in front of the TV set? It's our choice. God has made us free.
Every day is an opportunity. Will we allow the day to be evil, and to steal from us and destroy what we have, or will we approach God to redeem it? If you want to throw yourself headlong into something, throw yourself into a relationship with God. Be thankful in the moment for what God has provided you, and acknowledge him in your time spent with others.
If you have to give something up, do it with your head held high. If doing so prevents it from stealing your time or destroying lives, it's a noble act. Replace it with something connected to God. Spend your newfound time around Christians, praying, worshiping, reading, meditating on God's total awesomeness, etc. It is good and wise to be careful how you live. The days are evil unless we ask God to make them otherwise. Understand God's will for your life. Then you can make some good decisions with the time you have left.
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