The decision-making-paradigm of the Christian life ought to be: What pleases my Lord?
As the apostle Paul continues his dive into Christian ethics in Ephesians 5, this idea shows up in a handful of ways.
At the outset, the apostle points out that we ought to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). That is, we forgive others as God has forgiven us in His Son Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:32) and also that we walk in sacrificial love just as Jesus loved us and gave His life for us (Eph. 5:2).
To walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord is to reflect Him. Just as the moon has no glory in of itself but is merely a reflection of sunlight, so we ought to be a reflection of Sonshine in our Christian walks. Apart from Him we bring nothing, but through Him, as we reflect Him, we can be a blessing to the world around us.
With this, the believer is to flee sinful things. In a sense, we are to “Walk as children of the light” (Eph. 5:8b) for we are no longer of the darkness.
This is done as we, “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:10) and we take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). We are not to be foolish but to understand the will of the Lord as it pertains to making the best use of our short time (Eph. 5:16-17).
If these things be true, we must ask ourselves: How much do we aim to discern God’s desires in our day-to-day lives?
The heartbeat of the Christian is to walk worthy of the Lord, striving to please Him in all things. We do this in order to bring Him glory with our blood-bought lives—yet, if are not intentional we can go through vast swaths of time without actively seeking to discern what is pleasing to Him.
As we saw yesterday, God’s love and grace towards us are so vast (Eph. 1-3) they ought to shape how we walk in every decision of every day (Eph. 4-6).
His kindness towards us will impact how we live in our communities before nonbelievers and life in general and likewise ought to impact how we live in the home (Eph. 5:22-6:9).
True faith in Jesus Christ leaves no stone unturned.
There is no section of our lives that is secular. Each and every decision of every day ought to be shaped by our Christian worldview and our aim ought to be in all things to please the One who gave everything for us.
That’s so true brother I love how you tied it back to Ephesians 5 because Paul makes it clear that our walk must be shaped by what pleases the Lord and not ourselves it reminds me of Colossians 1:10 where Paul prays that we may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God and also Romans 12:1-2 where we’re called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and not be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove what is that good acceptable and perfect will of God thank you for this reminder that every decision big or small should be brought under the Lordship of Christ because as 1 Corinthians 10:31 says whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God”
This is wonderful, Josiah. What a critical aspect of our identity - our reflection of who we represent. This reminded me of Timothy Keller's mirror analogy where we'd have nothing to reflect if it weren't for the light.