Ephesians 5:15-20 (The Message version) So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants. Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Okay, the first verse I think my Dad wrote it. He was always saying to me, "Use your head!" But, this is Paul, saint and apostle for the Lord Jesus Christ, writing to Christians (that's you and me, correct?) with some advice on better living. As we pray and praise God, we should be aware that we walk in the presence of the Almighty as well as the watchful eye of His enemy, who, another passage says, never sleeps; so, God says through Paul, "Watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get." And if this were written just today, not some two thousand years ago, "These are desperate times!" Indeed. We are called to live with purpose and reason. We should be in tune with what God has as His will for our lives and not being distracted by the many distractions the world offers, including those things that may numb our thinking abilities, such as excessive wine and alcohol. I love Paul's image, in modern translation, of course, "Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of Him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs!" (Oops, did not the Wesley brothers read this?) We are to use any excuse to sing from our hearts (Yes, "joyful noises" included) the praises of God; and do it in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
A retired pastor once wrote that he seldom heard people whistling and I pray it may not be said of us that we don't just break out in song every once in a while; a verse of "Our God is an awesome God," or "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound," or whatever praise song/hymn that you feel led to sing. May it be said of those who read this devotional this morning, that you blessed someone by singing or humming a praise to the Lord.
PRAYER: Loving God, indeed, You are awesome and worthy of my praise. I thank You for the gift of song and I sing your praises now. In Jesus' name, of course, amen.
The above picture is our first born granddaughter, Saraí Evangelina Cortez, who loves to sing, and is pictured in the Children's Choir of FUMC-San Marcos, TX.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
