Thursday, May 14, 2026

Opening Scripture

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Opening Prayer

Most Merciful God, blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed are those whose sins you do not count against them. When we confess our sin to you, you are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We give you praise for your unfailing love. Your mercies are new every morning, and our hearts are glad. May your face shine upon us this day. Help us to walk in your way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Ephesians 5:3-20

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 

This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflection  

In today’s passage, Paul continues his teaching on practical Christian living with a stern warning about sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Paul’s emphasis on avoiding even the appearance of evil sounds like Peter’s instruction: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).

Paul raises the bar from simply not participating in sexual immorality to not even talking or jokingabout it! Crude and shameful talk is essentially out of bounds for believers. Part of the reason joking about immorality, impurity, and greed is discouraged is because it is the lifestyle of the lost. Such things bring God’s wrath.

Paul’s caution to the Ephesian Christians involves more than the importance of a good reputation. Eternity hangs in the balance! “No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” It is literally a life-and-death situation!

This is what Paul warned the Christians in Corinth about. “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

The fact that Paul must still warn the believers about this – even though they have been “washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” – shows how strong the temptation was in that culture, even after conversion.

That’s why Paul warns us not to associate with people who are actively engaged in an immoral lifestyle. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Paul says, “do not be partners with them.” The word “partner” (summetochos) literally means “joint-partaker.” Since we are “joint-partakers” in the Kingdom of God, we must not be “joint-partakers” in the kingdom of evil.

Christians are no longer part of the realm of darkness. They are part of the realm of light. They must, “Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”

That’s what Jesus said in John 3:19-21, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

It is important to note here that Paul urges his listeners to “walk in the light” and thereby expose the “fruitless deeds of darkness,” not of the unsaved world, but of other believers who are not walking in the light. Only the Holy Spirit can convict the lost of their sin. However, believers can and should “spur one another on to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).

Paul develops this instruction more fully in his letter to the Corinthians. “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you’” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).

Once again, Paul emphasizes the importance of the Christian’s “walk” (peripateó), meaning how we conduct ourselves and live each day. “Be very careful, then, how you live (walk) – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

A tangible expression of “walking wise, not unwise” is to be controlled by the Spirit rather than alcohol or other substances. One plays to the old nature. The other plays to the new nature. Too much alcohol leads to wastefulness (asótia). Being crammed full (pléroó) of the Holy Spirit leads to joyful worship.

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

We often think of “idolatry” as a pagan practice involving carved statues or figurines. These “idols” may sit in a shrine or temple of some kind, surrounded by candles, incense, and flowers, but in today’s passage, Paul claims that immorality, impurity, and greed are forms of idolatry.

It turns out, any time we “worship” created things instead of the Creator, it is idolatry. Pleasure, popularity, and possessions have always been common “idols.” In fact, that kind of idolatry is so ordinary that it has been accepted and excused throughout history. That is why Paul warns, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”

Michael Beck offers these insights on the sin of idolatry. “We are all created with a God-shaped space in the soul, an interior capacity for communion that nothing finite can satisfy. We were made for loving union with God and with one another.

“Idolatry, arguably the most persistent sin named in Scripture, happens whenever we try to fill that space with something that is not God. Some of us reach for substances: sex, drugs, rock and roll. Others reach for money, power, prestige, or even relationships. But the mechanism is the same: something climbs onto the throne of the heart beside God, and over time, it demands more than it gives.

“And I suspect a subtle form of idolatry has taken hold in the hearts of millions who consider themselves Christians. It is so quiet, so normalized, that over time it doesn’t just pull us away from our baptismal vows to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves… it slowly reshapes us into collaborators with those very forces of darkness, often without us even realizing it.

“The Bible treats idolatry not as a side issue, but as a foundational distortion. The Hebrew Scriptures use a cluster of words: pesel (carved image), massekah (cast idol), and gillulim (a deliberately derogatory term often translated “detestable idols”), to describe the ways Israel repeatedly substitutes the living God for something more controllable, visible, and manageable.

“The first two commandments in the Decalogue establish the frame: ‘You shall have no other gods before me,’ and ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image… you shall not bow down to them or serve them’ (Exodus 20:3–5). This is not simply about religious purity, it is about ultimate reality.

“Idolatry becomes the root system from which other sins grow. What we worship shapes what we tolerate. What we enthrone determines how we treat one another.

“By the time we reach the New Testament, the language shifts, but the diagnosis remains. Jesus rarely speaks about carved statues, yet he speaks constantly about divided allegiance. ‘No one can serve two masters… you cannot serve God and Mammon’ (Matthew 6:24). Mammon is not just money; it is wealth personified, a rival claimant to our trust and devotion. Jesus presses even deeper: ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matthew 6:21).

“In other words, the question is not whether we worship, but what we worship. The human heart is not neutral territory. It orients itself around a center, and whatever occupies that center becomes functionally ultimate. Idolatry, then, is not an ancient curiosity; it is an ever-present temptation to give ultimate loyalty to something less than ultimate, and to build our lives, and even our communities, around that misalignment.”

Are you in danger of “worshipping” something created rather than the Creator?

What do you tend to “devote yourself to” most of the time?

Is God truly on the throne of your life? How do you know?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!