Taking Time to Recharge
Time to Find – Part 1

Scripture Reading:  Ephesians 5:8-14

Key Verse: Ephesians 5:10

…and find out what pleases the Lord.

On the official instructions for jumpstarting your car, it tells the reader to make sure the car is in park, headlights are off, turn signals are off, be sure the radio is off as well as the air conditioning.  For jumpstarting your car, these instructions seem so obvious.  For jumpstarting our spiritual life, there are similar instructions.  We must turn some things off in our life if we are going to get recharged and powered up for God.

            In our scripture for today the Apostle Paul tells us to find out what pleases the Lord.  To find out something, we must take time to investigate.  It takes focus on what we are investigating.  In other words, there must be some intentionality to our search.  The first clue that Paul gives us is found in the words, “live as children of light” (verse 8b).  The apostle is reminding his readers that our investigation must start by getting rid of the darkness or the shadows in our lifestyle.

            The Bible uses darkness as an analogy to sinful behavior.  In finding what pleases the Lord, we must look for dark spots in our lives.  Do you have areas of your life that you are ashamed of?  Are there things that you participate in that you wouldn’t want your pastor seeing?  Are you hiding anything—any behavior—from your spouse or friends that you would be embarrassed if they found it out?  “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the lord” (verse 8a).

Father, grant me courage to shine your light in all the corners of my life.  Help me to live an authentic holy life!  In Jesus’ name, amen.