He said to them, “When you pray, say, “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”     Luke 11:2
 
This week, I invite you to consider the question: Can we live in God’s kingdom now, or must we wait for the kingdom to come in the future? The answer of Jesus to this question is nuanced. Yes, the kingdom has come near (Mark 1:15) and thus is truly present. The kingdom is not yet fully here, and so we continue to hope for its full presence in the future.
As we read through the Gospels, especially in Mark, there is often talk about the dynamic of “already and not yet” of the kingdom of God. I want to suggest one way the “already and not yet” aspect of the Kingdom can shape both our prayers and our daily lives.
Think about how Jesus taught us to pray in what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” In this prayer, there is a line that reads, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10, Luke 11:2). This portion of The Lord’s Prayer embodies the “already and not yet” dimension of the kingdom. Jesus teaches us to pray for the kingdom to come, which suggests that it is not here yet, at least not completely. Yet, Jesus also instructs us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven. Given that the kingdom of God is God’s reign, God’s rule, God’s sovereignty, then praying for God’s will to be done on earth is praying for God’s kingdom to be present now. So, while we pray for the fullness of the kingdom to come in the future, we also pray for the impact of God’s kingdom to be experienced in our lives and our world now.
The Lord’s Prayer helps us to know we can live in God’s kingdom right now, even as we await its fullness in the future. We can ask that God’s will be done today in our world. More specifically, we can ask that we might do God’s will in our part of the world: in our work and worship, in our rest and play, in our homes and stores, in our churches and boardrooms. We will not bring the kingdom of God through our efforts, but we can faithfully manifest and extend the kingdom as we do God’s will in every part of our lives.
 
Reflection
How do you experience God’s kingdom in your life today? Do you pray for God’s will to be done in your family, work, and community? How might your family, work, and world be different if you sought to do God’s will in every action, every decision?
Pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and thoughtfully. As you pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done, what does this stir up in your heart for His glory?

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.                                    (Read 1 Kings 3:7-9)
 
In 1 Kings 3, Solomon asks the Lord for a “discerning heart.” More literally, in the Hebrew original, “a listening heart.” If we wish to live well, then we need to learn to listen well, both to people and to God. Through the process of regular listening, we are being formed by God’s Spirit to have what Solomon called a “discerning” or “listening” heart.
As important as it is to listen to people, it is even more essential that we learn how to listen to God. We will live wisely when we are in touch with God’s truth, priorities, and guidance. Perhaps most importantly, our hearts need to be shaped by God to be like God’s own heart. According to Samuel, the Lord chose David because David was “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). I would like to be that sort of person. Wouldn’t you want to be a man or woman after God’s own heart?
As a pastor, I haven’t found it easy to listen to God. I am much better at telling God what I want God to do than listening to what God wants me to do. But I am learning, slowly but surely, by God’s grace, to listen to the Lord.
Some of that learning came by listening to the people God entrusted to my care. By listening, I got to know them much better. By listening, I also heard from the Lord. God speaks to us when we are alone, to be sure. But God also speaks through the faithful community, formed and filled with the Holy Spirit. As we study God’s written Word together, we often hear God “speak” through the words of others.
I often find a place and time of solitude where I write my sermon for the upcoming weekend. In that place, I talk conversationally with God about what I am writing. I ask questions. I tell the Lord what I was planning to preach. I share my concerns, doubts, and hopes.
 
But I do not talk to God only. I also try to listen. I have never heard an audible voice, but I often sense God’s presence and guidance. Once in a while, it seems as if God was speaking clearly and powerfully, helping me to know what I should preach and how I should do it. There were times when I would say to the Lord, “I don’t know what You want to say to the congregation through this passage.” Then, suddenly, I would have a strong conviction about the point I was supposed to deliver. My creative process isn't always like that, but it is many times. I marvel at God’s grace in speaking to me so clearly.
I also often find myself in a quiet place, a place where I can pray out loud (mostly in my car), then I feel free both to tell the Lord what’s on my heart and to listen more attentively to what God might want to say to me. In fact, when I am alone, I am much more able to abide by the words of Habakkuk, “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.” (Hab 2:20). Or I can do as the Lord instructs in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!”
I shared a lot about me and my practices. I do this, not because I want you to imitate what I do, but rather to encourage you to consider how you can develop a discerning heart, a heart that listens to God. You might do this best in a quiet corner of your home, or in a church sanctuary, or on a silent retreat. You might hear from the Lord as you meditate upon Scripture, pay attention during a sermon, or share openly in a small group. You might benefit from devotional reading, having a spiritual director, or praying the Ignatian Examen at the end of each day. Recently, I often find my best times of prayer in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. I’m not recommending this, by the way. But I encourage you to do the same when you are having trouble sleeping.
Let me encourage you to prayerfully consider what helps you have a discerning heart. As you do whatever this is, may your heart be shaped by the Spirit to listen well, both to God and to people.

Be very careful, then, how you live – not unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.                                                                        Ephesians 5:15-16
 
A paraphrase of v. 15 may be like this: “Pay attention to how you’re living, not as unwise people but as wise.” Or, as it says in The Message, “So watch your step. Use your head.”
V. 16 continues with the exhortation: “making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” The NRSV translation irons out an intriguing wrinkle in the original Greek language of this verse. The verb translated as “making the most of” (exagorazō) literally means to “buy up” or “redeem.” It appears in Galatians, where “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Gal 3:13). Thus, a more straightforward rendering of v. 16 might be, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (That, by the way, is how the King James Version translates this verse.)
What does it mean to redeem the time because the days are evil? And how can we do this? Many Jews, in Jesus’ day, thought of this present age as evil. Although the perspective of Ephesians is more nuanced than the stark visions of Jewish apocalyptic thinking, Paul also articulates the evil character of our current existence. In Ephesians 2:2, for example, he says we once “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 6 identifies our struggle in life as “not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (v. 12). Thus, labeling the days as “evil” does not condemn the literal days on the calendar as wicked. Rather, it tells that our daily experience is filled with sin and dominated by the powers of darkness.
From a biblical point of view, evil does not only reside in those whose deeds score high on the index of terror and injustice. We all live in evil days. We all confront evil in our lives. Apart from Christ, we are under the domination of evil. And we all live in a time when the battle between good and evil rages. This is not good news!
Yet we are not captive or hopeless. Instead, when we acknowledge the evil of our days, through Christ, we have a chance to do something profoundly good. We can redeem the time. When we are watchful about how we live, when we use our time wisely, when we seize moments that might otherwise be wasted and fill them with wise deeds, we are in effect redeeming time from its diabolical bondage.
It is worth noting that v. 16 speaks of redeeming or buying up time, whereas we talk about spending it. So, to use our English idiom, if we spend our time wisely, not wasting it on worthless or sinful activities, then that time will have been well spent. We will have invested our lives well.
Last time, I encouraged you to set aside some time to carefully examine how you are living. When we learn to pay attention to how we are living, one result is that we will make good use of our time. We will invest the hours God has entrusted to us in good work, good relationships, good service, and good prayer. Today, I offer a similar encouragement.
 
Reflection
Sometime this week, take a half-hour to reflect on how you’re spending your time. Once again, let this time of reflection be a conversation with the Lord. How are you doing when it comes to “redeeming the time”? In what ways do you spend wisely the time God has given to you? In what ways do you squander your time? Would you like to make changes in how you’re living? Will you talk with God about this? For His glory!

Be very careful, then, how you live – not unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.                                                                        Ephesians 5:15-16
 
Happy New Year to you and your family. As we transition into a new year, I find several passages of Scripture to be especially relevant and incisive. Often, for example, I reflect on Psalm 90 with its timely prayer, “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” Another passage I frequently turn to at the end of the year is Ephesians 5:15-16.
“Be very careful, then, how you live” (v15). More literally, the original Greek reads, “Watch carefully, then, how you walk.” In the Bible, walking is often used as a metaphor for living. We might say it is about adopting a certain lifestyle. Paul urges us to do this thoughtfully. It may be easier to go with the flow, to live in the same way as those around us, without paying attention to whether we are living in a meaningful Christ-like and God-glorifying way in every part of life. Ephesians jolts us out of our complacency, “Wake up! Pay attention! Look at your life!” In this regard, Paul agrees with the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Or, more positively, examine your life so it will be worth living!  
Paul continues, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not unwise but as wise.” Wisdom, of course, isn’t just having lots of knowledge. Rather, as dictionary.com puts it, wisdom is “the ability ... to think and act utilizing knowledge.” Merriam-Webster defines wisdom as the “ability to discern inner qualities and relationships.” We, who know God through Christ, have access to eternal, heavenly wisdom, both because it is revealed in Scripture and because Jesus is the actual embodiment of God’s wisdom. The more we learn from and grow in our relationship with Jesus, the wiser we will become.
So, v. 15 gives us guidance on how to live each day. It says: “Pay attention to how you’re living. Be wise.” Or, as The Message puts it, “So watch your step. Use your head.” Notice that living well isn’t simply a matter of actions and feelings. It’s not impulsive. Instead, we’ve got to use our heads. Living wisely requires thoughtfulness and God-inspired insight based on the Word of God in Scripture, resulting in wise actions.  
I suggest that the end of the year is a good time to put Ephesians 5:15 into practice. As we usher in a new year, why not make a habit of setting aside a half-hour for reflection and prayer? Think about how you lived this past year. What has gone well? What has not gone so well? How are you doing when it comes to work, friendship, family, church, and faith? Are there sins you need to confess? Are there gifts of God for which you need to express gratitude? Do you need God’s help to live with greater wholeness in 2026? Will you talk to God about these things in prayer?
If we develop the practice of paying attention to how we are living, we will be on the road to living “not unwise, but as wise [people].” As you celebrate the new year, may you ask the Lord to renew your heart. May you be fully open to all that God wants to do in you in 2026 and beyond.
 
Reflection
Set aside some time before the end of the year to examine how you lived in 2025. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and reveal to you how you have been living. Then, in prayer, talk with the Lord about what you are thinking and feeling. Ask the Lord to lead you into wise living. For His glory!