“Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, ‘Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'”
Paul continues his admonishment about sin versus the imitation of God as his children. How often do we ourselves make excuses for the sins he listed (see yesterday’s post), not to mentioned the disregard in our society for what comes out of a person’s mouth. In this way, when we are followers of Jesus we are inherently operating in a different framework, and we are not fooled by cheap excuses.
The letter continues on with a theme of dark versus light. The classic description of evil versus good. Our job as Christians is to shine a light on everything around us. When we shine a light on the good, it looks even more beautiful and holy. When we use our light to expose secrets and evil, God delivers his righteous justice.
Here’s your freedom for today: Jesus will open your eyes and wake up your soul. Sometimes we need to be shaken out of our complacency and remember our role as the church. We can’t fall asleep on the job here — the world needs the light of Jesus desperately. If we believe he is the answer to the pain of the world, then we can’t waste a single minute. We have to bring his love and his light to everyone we can, offering hope to a hopeless world. If your spiritual life doesn’t feel awake and alive, then ask God to bring you to a new place of passion. We need all hands on deck as we seek to bring the kingdom of God into all its fullness.