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So what does another chip bag on the floor matter when there are already other empty pretzel bags and cans kicking around? And why worry about the envelopes that slid off the couch and joined the other pieces of crumpled paper and outdated flyers on the floor? As you rigorously brush your teeth, a few fresh spots on the already splattered bathroom mirror are barely noticeable. Why worry? A plate, bowl, spoon and knife from your breakfast? “Just set it there somewhere on the counter or in the sink along with the rest of this week’s buildup. I’ll rinse them off when I need them.”
It’s depressingly incredible with what speed sloppiness morphs into an overwhelming mess!
Paul was writing the believers in Ephesus. In Chapter 5, he is stressing how different Christians (children of light) should be from the dark, godless and immoral world all around them. After using descriptive examples of darkness to get his point across, he then says:
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
The Holman Christian Standard Bible says it well:
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
Have you ever watched a cat walk along the top of a picket fence? It moves with remarkable care. Every step is measured. Each paw is placed ever so deliberately. It does not stroll carelessly or recklessly. It walks circumspectly. That is the picture Paul paints in Ephesians 5:15 when he says, “Be very careful, then, how you live.”
Walking and living circumspectly means living accurately, very carefully, deliberately, and diligently, ensuring that all safeguards, fences, boundaries, and protective measures are in place to minimize the risk of failure, contamination, and a real mess.
Sloppy, careless Christian living quickly slides into messy living. Sloppy, slack living greases the slide that hastens the ruin of our testimony. Without a disciplined daily life and without spiritual routines and habits every day, we become sloppy spiritually.
Without convictions formed with an open Bible and a bowed heart in prayer, we will have no markers to warn us when we are drifting toward hidden reefs. Without pre-established spiritual boundaries, we will slip and slide all over the place, allowing this and then allowing that. Before we know it, the depressing scenario described in the opening paragraph above takes on spiritual significance.
Read the opening paragraph again and ask yourself: Have small compromises, neglected duties, or spiritual carelessness begun to accumulate in my own life?
Think about your spiritual condition just now. If you detect a certain slackness creeping into your spiritual life, confess it to the Lord and implement the corrective measures necessary to reverse the slide.
My daily prayer should go something like this:
"Father, help me to be disciplined each day in my walk with You and for You. I want to be consistent in reading Your Word and in my prayers. How richly I have been blessed in Christ! Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul and for Your preserving care for me. Heighten my sensitivity to sin and preserve me from sloppiness. May the Holy Spirit impress my heart with Scriptural convictions and teach me to walk only in ways that are pleasing to You. Help me to honour Christ today in all aspects of my behaviour. May others see something of Christ in me. Father, preserve me from sloppy spiritual living. Amen."
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