Ephesians 5:15-17 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
That’s the challenge; understand the will of the Lord and walk and act accordingly. But our flesh likes easy, safe, selfishness.
We have our own desires. We have our own wills, and they struggle against the Spirit and our faith every day.
The mission of the Lord is others-focused. The love of the Triune God faces out.
The will of the Father is that His children will lay down their lives for others just like our older brother Jesus laid down is His life for you.
The calling of the Christian Faith is “This is my body broken for you…”
Husbands, Wives, Parents, Masters, servants, friends…this is your calling. Everyone, this is your calling. This is a calling so heavy only the humble can carry it. It will break the backs of the proud. “This is my body broken for you…”
Author N.D. Wilson wrote, “Lay your life down. Your heartbeats cannot be hoarded. Your reservoir of breaths is draining away. You have hands, blister them while you can. You have bones, make them strain – they can carry nothing in the grave. You have lungs, let them spill with laughter…I can be giving my fingers, my back, my mind, my words, my breaths, to my wife and my children and my neighbors, or I can grasp after the vapor and the vanity for myself, dragging my feet, afraid to die and therefore afraid to live. And, like Adam, I will still die in the end. Living is the same thing as dying. Living well is the same thing as dying for others.
You are all dying, right now, by the very fact that you are mortal living creatures. Living well is dying for others. You were given bodies, strength and voices to give away.
Be as generous as your King.
Look around. Look around your family. Look around your church. Look around your neighborhood.
You were not given bodies and redeemed for mere pleasure or self-centered pursuits. Life was poured into you so that you could pour it out in the service of others.
“This is my body, broken for you…”
It requires prayer and repentance.
It requires faith and the Lord’s Spirit.
It requires rejecting the easy safe selfishness that our flesh loves so much.
It requires looking up and looking out. To the condition and welfare of others.
Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Let us confess and ask God to forgive us for our selfishness and ask for the Spirit of God to reveal and lead us in understanding the will of our Lord.
Locusts and Wild Honey 