Thoughtlessly

"So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do."
Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT

We come to Christ for salvation, knowing we are sinners and unable to fix ourselves - knowing He is the only One who can save us. After we receive our salvation from Him (remember, it's a gift), we try to spend the rest of our lives doing things to earn it or prove that we're good enough to have earned it. We are not. Scripture is very clear about that. Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT reads, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

There is a plan behind all of it and we need to understand that God didn't just save us so we could get to heaven. There IS something for us to do - but it's according to HIS plan. If we continue on to verse 10, it explains, "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Sometimes, we get sidetracked and don't even realize it. However, if we're serious about following God, He will reveal it to us.

I remember having a dream once where I was at some social event with a lot of different people and I kept finding myself in circumstances that seemed okay to start with, but after I was there for a little bit, I would realize the conversations were full of veiled innuendos, things that I knew were not Godly, even though there was nothing blatant about it. I had to keep stepping away. Underlying the whole scenario was a sense of being in a life-threatening position. Although I couldn't actually see anything that appeared life-threatening, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was no life, no Light. 

After being there for a little while, I grabbed a handful of some snack without even thinking about it, but at the first bite, it was beyond awful, and I was horrified. I immediately spit it out and kept wiping my tongue with the napkin. Finally, I headed to the restroom to brush my teeth to try to rid myself of the taste, only to have someone follow me in - someone who had no business being in there and I told them to get out. Then someone else knocked on the door looking for the person who followed me in, my response was to ask why they thought that person would be in there...

I was appalled and I immediately woke up. When I did, it was with pieces of the chorus to the song, "Undo" running around in my head.  You see, we get caught up in the things of this life and don't realize they're absolutely life-threatening to our life in Christ. Oh, on the surface, they're not bad. We're not out getting drunk or having clandestine affairs, etc, but we do things without thinking - thoughtlessly (like taking the handful of snack in the dream).  Mindlessly, they steal our time. We spend it in trivial pursuit... because it's something to do.

"So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do."

Prayer:

Father,
           In the words of the song, Lord - "Turn us around, pick us up, undo what we've become. Bring us back to the place of forgiveness and grace. We need You, need Your help. We can't do this ourselves. You're the only One who can undo what we've become..." In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-oZbBS_OhM