Made to Reflect

We continued Made for This this Sunday, into Ephesians 5. The moon has no light of its own. What we see on a clear night is not moonlight at all, but sunlight, reflected off a dusty surface a quarter million miles away.

And so are we. Reflections. As disciples, we reflect Christ, or we fail to. Paul gives us three walks.

Walk in love. The passage opens with counterweights. Do not steal, work and share. Do not trash talk, encourage. Do not be malicious, forgive. Hands, mouth, heart, the whole person turned inside out.

And in the middle, a line easy to miss. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed. We are owned, guarded, sealed.

So we imitate God, not as a checklist, but the way beloved children resemble their parents. Effortlessly.

Walk in light. Before Paul names the light, he names the dark, and calls it by name. Vices of the mind, vices of the mouth, out of place for saints, like a tuxedo at a barbecue. And we do not point across the aisle.

We all were once darkness. But now we are light. Not in the light. Light.

So walk as what you already are. Light exposes the dark simply by being lit.

Walk wisely. Look carefully how you walk. Make the most of the time, which means opportunity, the fleeting chances. Buy the moments back.

Do not be drunk with wine, be filled with the Spirit. The question is not whether you will be filled, but by what. Praise and thanks, even for the hard things, and submission to one another out of reverence for Christ.

We are made to reflect the Son. Jesus. The moon does not try to shine. It just reflects what it faces.

Something to sit with this week:

Does my walk reflect His love, not on Sunday in front of a group, but on Tuesday in front of the people closest to me? And what is filling my life right now: my mind, my mouth, my time?