Light Versus Darkness

The Christian Paul gets excited about what God has going. The Ephesians are trying to thrive in a power based culture where magic and money rule. Paul writes to them that God's new kingdom, His new culture has the juice to totally remake the city.

I have been staring into chapter 5 of Paul's teaching specifically today. Paul aches for the Ephesians to own their new lives as Children of Light. Ephesus is a dark town with the largest temple to a demon, Artemis, in the known world and millions of dollars worth of materials dedicated to spells, charms, curses and other magic arts. Their statue maker guilds almost control the town.

Yet,

God had set up a living outpost of Light in the middle of their swirling darkness. Yet the outpost had shadows of sin, anger, lust, pettiness of various sorts gave folks places to hide from the light. Paul encouraged these believers to let the light of God's love shine out the negative and energize healthy care for the world around them.

The phrase I am working through is "making the most of every opportunity" or "redeeming the time" as the King James puts it. The full sentence that this phrase occupies advises them to live studied, wise lives. Children of Light want their lives to count and to get the most out of every chance.

As Christians in the 21st Century United States what does a life that counts mean? Like Ephesus, our country spins around power and influence. Our temples might be corporate headquarters or Club shopping warehouses. How do the shadows show up in our churches? How do we need to take ahold of being children of light as we see the darkness descend?

Make the most of every opportunity. Now some have interpreted this as finding a church that gives me and my children every opportunity to fellowship. Mega church attendance makes up a huge percentage of the attendance of the United States Christians, far beyond their actual numbers. That is likely a start. Healthy fellowship is key.

Paul wants them to look outside their fellowship to engage the darkness with God's light power. That requires a sacrificial, other centered view. The main focus is on God's will and carrying it out in the day to day. Its mowing the lawn kind of basic. Its lending $20 or raking leaves in Jesus' name. What else might it be?