Ephesians 5:15-20

March 23, 2010
Ephesians 5:15-20
I always have trouble uncovering the true meaning of these verses! There are some words that I don’t understand:
circumspectly
Redeem
“be not drunk with wine”
I think that I’ll need to pull out the Concordance so that I can better grasp what these verses are trying to tell me.
Circumspectly – akribos; ( an adjective from the Greek word “akribestatos” meaning “to be exact – most straightest) exactly-circumspectly, diligently, perfect (-ly).
Redeem – exagarozo; to buy up, i.e. ransom; to rescue from loss (improve opportunity):- redeem.
“Be not drunk with wine.” – methusko; to drink to intoxication. (From what I gather this is as stated, quite simply don’t get intoxicated. It controls the body and inhibits the mind from clear use.
So from what I’ve defined here:
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,” means that we are to live our daily lives as perfectly as humanly possible. We are to be diligent at walking exactly as Christ has laid out for us in the Bible. This verse is encouraging us to live out our lives in a Christ-like manner! Now I see!!
“Redeeming the time because the days are evil” means that we are to rescue the time that we have here on earth from being wasted. It is so easy to just waste away the time that God has given us but He is telling us not to do this. We are to deliberately try to improve our “opportunities” for Christ while here on earth. We shouldn’t “let come what may” but rather make specific efforts (because that’s what it takes!) to do something for Christ everyday! That verse excites me!!!
I’ve already defined the drunkenness verse but the Bible goes on and says that instead of intoxication with the worlds offerings we are to be filled with the Spirit. How? By “Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Vs. 19, 20. (I'll touch on verse 20 in another post as that verse says so much all on its own!)
Being filled with the Spirit IS redeeming the time because in order to be filled with the Spirit we have to take specific, conscious steps. We don’t just “happen” to be filled with the Spirit, we purposely do it! WOW!! Thank You Lord for this understanding!!
What steps need to be taken? Bible reading (getting up and doing it), prayer, handling a matter with the children patiently, not allowing ourselves to get frustrated if hubby has left his shoes and socks on the floor…again, talking to that stranger at the park about Jesus, reaching out to another Sister in Christ who looks downtrodden.
None of these come naturally (at least not for me) so they are all things that we can do-and there’s more of course- in order to redeem the time and be filled with the Spirit!!