ARISE

 
February 21, 2023                                               ARISE
Ephesians 5:8-10, 14-16 “for you were formerly darkness, but not you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light consist in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.”     “For this reason it says ‘Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
If we know the Lord as Savior and Redeemer, then we are not who we use to be-we are a new people; we are light in the Lord.  A core message of the gospel is that because God has made us new, we are to live as those who have been delivered from darkness into His marvelous light. We have been joined to God, and now we can partake of His divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4. That means that we can-not be God-but be like Him in the life we live here on earth. The words we speak, the thoughts we think, the actions we take, the attitudes we adopt, and the spirit we project can all reflect the nature of God! Just as Paul did, we are to be doing the things that are pleasing to the Lord; we are not to ‘participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.’  The above passage of scripture is a wake-up call for believers; we must not be found asleep on the job-on our calling; a genuine faith in God leads to a pro-active life. When we awake to the call of God and arise from our sleep, “Christ will shine on us.”(I don’t know about you, but I want Christ to shine on me-whatever that looks like.) We are to be careful how we walk; we are to walk as wise men and women, not following the ways of the world and not being distracted from what God has for us. So, let us awake and arise to the calling of God; let us being doing the things that are pleasing to Him; and let us live as the new creations that He has made us-and let His divine nature be expressed in and through us.
2 Peter 1:2-4 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificence promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
Blessings,
Buddy