“Walking in Wisdom” – FBC Morning Light (9/12/2023)

What a good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're looking at.

Isaiah 31 and 32, Colossians chapter 4, and Proverbs 11. I want to focus on one verse in Colossians 4 for a minute and get us to think about this. It's verse 5 where Paul writes to the church at Colossae, and he says, Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Well, you hear a verse like that, and it should cause us to stop and ponder and ask ourselves a question. Am I making good use of the time that I have today?

Am I redeeming it? Am I filling it up with that which is profitable, and that which is useful, and that which is fruitful, that which is pleasing to the Lord? Or am I too easily distracted by things that rob me of a valuable use of my time?

We live in a time when time wasters are, I mean, they're just everywhere. It's really distressing sometimes. So easily are we distracted by the stuff of the world, of everyday life. You know, you probably have a phone of some kind, a smartphone, and you can be diligently at work concentrating on something, and all of a sudden a text comes in, and you get notified.

There's ways to block that, I understand, but most of us don't do that, and that distracts us, it takes us away. And how many times does this happen to you? You get a text like that, you pick it up, you look at it, you read it, you respond to it, and so forth.

But do you know, while you have that thing in your hand, you flip over to the email widget thing, and you press on that icon, and you open up your email to see what emails come in, and there's a couple of emails, and you read them, and maybe you respond, maybe you don't, but you read them, and maybe flip to another email account, you read that and stuff, and get done with that, and you close it, and you say, well, you know, I haven't checked Facebook for a while, so you flip open the Facebook app on your phone, and next thing you know you're caught in a rabbit hole.

You come up out of that rabbit hole 20 -25 minutes later, and you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened? Is that a good use of the time? Has that been redeeming the time? These are some pretty sobering questions.

I'm in the middle of reading a book, I just got recently, it's called Digital Liturgies. Digital Liturgies. And so far what I've read, I would pass on that title to you, and encourage you to pick up a copy of it, but anyway, it's a good challenging book.

Anyway, getting back to our text, I also want to think about the first part of that verse, and the two go together. He says, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, those who are without, those who are not believers, those who are not in the faith, and think about that in relation to the second part of the verse, redeeming the time.

So much of that which is distracting comes from without the congregation, without the Church, outside of the Christian faith. And am I walking in wisdom in relationship to all those siren calls from without?

Now there's a parallel passage that talks about this redeeming of the time, or walking in wisdom toward those who are outside. It's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and verses 11 and 12. At the end of verse 10, Paul says, we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more, going back to loving one another.

I'm encouraging you to love one another more and more. But then he says this, that you also aspire to lead a life, lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

So one aspect of walking in wisdom toward those who are outside is what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4, leading a quiet life, not being marked by rancor and discord, minding your own business, you know, paying attention to what's right in front of you, the responsibilities you've been given, the life you've been called to lead, the vocation you've been called to fulfill.

Focus on these things, mind your own business, work with your own hands, keep yourself busy, occupied in the work that God has given to you, and this is a way that you walk properly toward those who are outside.

You walk that way, you and I walk that way, we will make the best use of the time that God has given to us. May we do so. Listen to that verse again. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

Our Father and our God, it is a challenge sometimes to make best use of the time we have, there's so many distractions that call us away from what we ought to be focusing on. Help us, O Lord, to walk in wisdom.

We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. All right, well have a great Tuesday. May the Lord bless you in it.

Good day.