Friday, August 30, 2024
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,…” (Ephesians 5:15 KJV).
What is the sense of “walk circumspectly” here?
To reiterate, today’s Scripture directs us to “walk circumspectly,” or walk having an awareness of our surroundings. We should not walk as “fools” (silly people, those without common sense or judgment) but as “wise” individuals (filled with God’s wisdom instead of man’s wisdom). “Let the word of Christ [the Scriptures rightly divided] dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).
Further explanation is supplied in Ephesians: “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16, the verse following today’s Scripture) is “buying back the time” that Satan has stolen from God and used for his own glory instead of our Creator’s glory. Galatians 1:4 speaks of “this present evil world.” Satan is “the god [ruler] of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he even bragged of this might in Matthew 4:8,9 and Luke 4:5-7. “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5) is about being sensible in front of unbelievers—the very people who are of this world and who love this world because it belongs to their spiritual father, Satan (John 8:44; 1 John 2:15-17). “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:…” (Ephesians 2:2).
As believers in Jesus Christ, we need to make wise use of our time—not fritter it away or waste it on that which disagrees with sound Bible doctrine. Either Christ is being formed in us (Galatians 4:19), or He is not. We are either carbon copies of our denominations, cults, sects; or we are filled with the life of Jesus Christ because we are walking after, minding the things of, the indwelling Holy Spirit (see Romans 8:1-17). Either we are walking defensively or walking recklessly, driving warily or driving irresponsibly, living maturely or living childishly. It truly is the difference between God’s life and Satan’s life, safety and injury….

