Ephesians 5:1-14

1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,

rise up from the dead,

and Christ will give you light.”

15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.¹⁸ don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.²⁰ and give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are called to imitate God in everything we do.  So in essence when we are doing things and we around friends, relatives, or strangers we should be asking ourselves would God do it this way.  WWGD, what would God do?  It’s quite simple we must live a life filled with love, patience, and hope following the examples of Christ.  We do this by reading the word of God.

The life of a Christian is much more than saying a simple prayer or going to church, it’s a lifestyle, it’s devoting oneself to Christ.  A Christian life is a complete makeover of our old sinful life and for one to truly surrender to our Lord Jesus Christ.  Verse 3 tells us that there is to be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among the children of God.  This also includes watching such things and enjoying them as entertainment.  We are not to partake in obscene stories, foolish talk, or course jokes, for this is not for us.  God is very clear, that we believers, His children, should not be part of this foolishness because we were once full of darkness, but are now filled with the light of the Lord.  So we should be living as children of light because the light that is in us is the light of the Lord and that only produces what is good and right in the sight of God.  We are Christians and we should know what pleases the Lord our father in heaven. We need to carefully determine what it is and do that.

We are instructed not to participate in the evil deeds of those who are in darkness.  We are in fact, supposed to expose that darkness.  God goes on to tell us it is shameful to even talk about the things the ungodly people do.  One day their evil intentions will be exposed when the light finally shines on them, for the light of God is so bright it makes everything visible.  So start today practicing the good and perfect life God has for us because for certain you do not want to get caught in the middle of any evil when the light finally shines.