Walk circumspectly

Walk circumspectly

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. - Ephesians 5:15-16

Every time I read this verse I remember teaching it to children in a song. I think we learned it as a family camp in Cork years and years ago. It always sticks out in my mind when a mother told us, not even a Christian family mind you, that her child was belting it out loud in a supermarket trolley. It was a nice little tune and it made the verse easy to remember.

The focus here is this circumspect walk. Circumspectly is a fun word. You can almost see the sense of the word just by looking at it. Walking circumspectly mean walks with caution awareness. My first thought is of the secret service agents who guard the American president. They look all around. They look everywhere. They are constantly on guard speaking into their wrist mics and watching every little movement.

That is what our Christian walk should be like. There is no room for slackness or letting our guard down. We need always be aware. It is foolish to ever not be on guard.

Paul doesn’t mince words here. He says that if we let down our guard and don’t stay on guard we are foolish. I know the reality of that. Whenever I am foolish enough to let my guard down, even for an instant, I find myself slipping in my spiritual walk.

Paul lived in evil days. We live in evil days. Because we live in evil days we must be always redeeming the time.

We don’t have time to mess around with foolishness. We don’t have time to take it easy. It is too dangerous to let our guard down. When we do, when we don’t redeem the time, we will fail and we will waste the precious time God gives us.