Ephesians 5:15-19a — Caaaareful there

READ THIS: Ephesians 5:15-19a

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19a speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

We just talked yesterday about getting to be a light. If we are supposed to be people who light up the rooms we walk into, then we have to be pretty careful how we act. You ever think about that word "careful?" It literally means "full of care." The times I have made my biggest mistakes and didn't do a great job of being the light/the good in the room were the times I did not act carefully. Those were the times I was kind of foolish and just did something because I wanted to do it, not thinking about other people, and certainly not thinking about Jesus. 

It's hard to be careful all the time, but we don't have to do that on our own. We have the Holy Spirit! When we have a choice in front of us, we get the chance to say, "Hey, God, I wanna do this thing. Holy Spirit, can You guide me in this? Is this something Jesus would do?" And, the thing is, our small decisions about letting the Holy Spirit guide us are what lead to bigger things. That's part of why, in 19a, it talks about speaking to one another in the Spirit. If we start asking the Spirit to guide the words that come out of our mouths (because we talk more than pretty much anything else we do apart from breath), then it'll be a lot more natural for us to ask the Spirit for bigger things. He'll be our first stop instead of our last!

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. When was a time you acted in a way that was "full of care?"

2. Paul says to not get drunk on wine but to instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why is he kind of contrasting being drunk to being guided by the Holy Spirit? How does that make sense?
 
TRY THIS:
 
So you're almost done reading this...after you are done reading this, you are going to eventually run into someone that you will want to (or have to) talk to. Before you talk to that person, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in how you talk! 

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