“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” – Ephesians 5:11

We cannot fully capture how crucial it is to gate-keep our hearts from getting corrupted by worldly vices that draw us away from God. Psalm 1:1-2 offers more insight into this notion, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

In our verse for today, Apostle Paul informs us that while shunning evil is good, it is also vital for us to speak against it. He is practically urging us to be each other’s keeper by exposing behaviors that are not in conformity with God’s word. At the time Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, they were considered a non-problematic church. Several accounts suggests that unlike the Romans and Colossians, they did not have doctrinal differences. They seemed to fully understand and accept the gospel in its entirety for what it was, the only thing they lacked was the boldness to expose evil.

Like the church in Ephesus, there are many of us today who lack the boldness to expose sin. We seem to have it all figured out, we observe all the principles of scripture and follow Christ as best as we can, but we cannot be Christians who do not care about the perishing, or our brothers and sisters around us who are falling away. We have an obligation to love our neighbors as ourselves and this is where it starts.

This is not a call for us to go around pointing fingers at people, as suggested in 2 Timothy 2:25, we must be tactful in our approach – “you must correct those who are in opposition with courtesy and gentleness.”Following in the footsteps of the disciples in the book of Acts, I pray that the Holy Spirit will give us boldness to indulge in this endeavor, in Jesus name. Amen!