Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 9
“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16NIV)
Who is Paul talking to here? He is talking to me. He is talking to you. He is talking to anyone who cares to listen.Now what point is he making to us through what he says? It is that we are to live wisely. And why are we to live wisely? The reason is that we are living in evil days. That means there is enough evil in the world every day to destroy any of us or to make our lives meaningless. And if we are not living wisely, then, our lives can only amount to nothing, that is, if they are not prematurely cut short.
So, we must be determined to live wisely. And how do we live wisely? As Paul goes on to tell us in that text, it is by making the most of every opportunity. That, of course, means that there are opportunities for us in these evil days to make sense out of living. And it is only those who make the most of these opportunities that will be ready to attain the heights God wants them to attain in life when the season for their elevation comes.
As we are told in the bible, God has seasons for lifting people up to different levels of greatness, importance or usefulness in life (1Peter 5:6). But it is not everyone that is always ready when the time comes for God to lift them up or help them.
For example, when it was time for God to end the wilderness experience of the Israelites that Moses brought out of Egypt and take them into the Promised Land, they were not ready to go in. But all the difficulties they had experienced, all the words God had spoken to them and all the miracles He had performed for them were meant to make them ready for that moment Yet they were not ready for it. So, they ended up spending forty more years in the wilderness before the Promised Land could be theirs to possess and enjoy. (Cf. Num 13-14)
In like manner, the word of God that comes to us day after day, the miracles we are experiencing or witnessing and the various circumstances we are going through in life are all supposed to make us ready for the seasons in which God will elevate us.
But if we are not making the most of them to strengthen our faith and to train ourselves to be responsible, faithful, patient, humble, loving and forgiving, we will simply find out that we are not ready when our season of elevation comes to us from God. Then who knows how many days or years it may take again for us to be ready, that is, if we ever become ready.
So, instead of complaining about your life’s circumstances, however ugly they may seem, learn to apply the word of God and His goodness to you in making the most of these circumstances to make yourself ready for your next season of elevation. That was how Joseph functioned. He did not waste his time and energy in complaining about the miseries of his life.
Instead, he used God’s favour that was on his life to make the most of the opportunities of his evil days to prepare himself for his season of elevation. And when that day came, he was more than ready to ascend. May that be your experience too in every season of elevation that comes to you from God.
Amen.
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