Be Prepared - Ephesians 5:15-17

"Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is."

One of the recurring themes in my book, The Kingdom Order: Living for the Future in the Present, is that we should live our life in the present as though it is preparation for eternity. We must allow our hope for an eternal future to impact the way we live in our present reality.

The Apostle Paul reinforces this outlook on life by admonishing the Ephesians (and us) to make the most of the time we have on this earth. If our time is not used for good--for accomplishing God's will--then it can be used for evil.

According to Jesus, God's Kingdom is not an inaccessible place far away in the heavens but is close to where we live—it is near. God has approached us and announced that His Kingdom has entered the world where we now live.

In fact, Jesus said the Kingdom of God is so close that we can personally encounter it.

But many Christians struggle with understanding what God wants them to do with their time on this earth or how God wants them to live. They don't know how to prepare for eternity because they don't "understand what the Lord's will is" (vs. 17).

When you become a citizen of God's Kingdom, the old order of your life passes away and is displaced or replaced by the new order of God's Kingdom.

It's like Paul said in vs. 8: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." Paul doesn't say you were once "in darkness" and now are "in light." Paul says you were the darkness but now you are the light!

If you are the light, then you should "walk as children of light--for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth--discerning what is pleasing to the Lord" (vs. 8-10).

So this is God's will that you "don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them" (vs. 11) to the light of God's truth. Being God's light and shedding His light on darkness--that's God's will, that's how to make the most of your time, that's how to be prepared for eternity!

"If we walk in the light as he Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).