Ephesians: Be Careful How You Walk
Ephesians 5:15-16 - Can you create a plan for where you want to be as a Christian when you are 80 years old?
“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:15-16 NASB1995
I found the description for the AI image suggested for these two verses to be quite intriguing:
Imagine a wide landscape image with:
A dusty road leading toward a magnificent Ephesian city gate.
Golden late-afternoon sunlight.
The gate still open—but clearly not for long.
One traveler striding purposefully toward it.
Several others wasting time along the roadside.
The feeling that a choice must be made now.
It communicates the entire message of Ephesians 5:15-16 without requiring any words: life is short, opportunities are fleeting, and wisdom acts while the door is still open.
That seems pretty astute for a soulless artificial intelligence source.
Let’s do a word study from the Blue Letter Bible lexicon:
Be careful comes from the Greek verb βλέπω or blépō (Strong’s G991), with the following Biblical usages:
to see, discern, of the bodily eye
with the bodily eye: to be possessed of sight, have the power of seeing
perceive by the use of the eyes: to see, look descry
to turn the eyes to anything: to look at, look upon, gaze at
to perceive by the senses, to feel
to discover by use, to know by experience
metaph. to see with the mind’s eye
to have (the power of) understanding
to discern mentally, observe, perceive, discover, understand
to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully, examine
in a geographical sense of places, mountains, buildings, etc. turning towards any quarter, as it were, facing it
I’m reaching that age when I’m becoming more and more aware of the hazards of falling. I have osteoporosis, among other ailments including decreased vision, and I would not like the fun and games of a broken hip or worse. So I am circumspect or careful in the steps that I take, especially on uneven ground or on stairs. Circumspectly is used in the KJV version. But this is not just about physical walking, obviously. We must be careful where we walk when we are with others or consuming the things of this world.
We as believers must be wise and walk as wise men and women, making the most of our time. The world is darker and darker, filled with more evil things now than Paul could ever have imagined, although the Romans were pretty debased. Steven Cole has a great exercise for believers to try in his commentary on this passage, as quoted in Precept Austin:
If you’re a soldier on patrol in a minefield, you must know where the mines are placed and be careful to avoid them. Paul is saying that we must walk that way as believers. We must choose our steps carefully, because the enemy has strewn the path with dangerous obstacles that will cause us serious harm if we are careless. The days are evil! And yet, many Christians just saunter through the minefield with no awareness of the grave danger that they face...“Look carefully” implies that if you are careless about how you walk, how you spend your time each day, you will not get through life without serious mishap. You will step on a mine or be attacked by the enemy or wander around hopelessly lost. The Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, giving themselves over to sensuality and greed (Eph 4:17-19). But Christians are not to walk in that manner. We must walk carefully, because the days are evil. Without deliberate carefulness, the evil that surrounds us will overwhelm us....To walk carefully in this evil day,
you must use your time wisely,
understand the will of the Lord, and
be filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is one reason that I urge you prayerfully to write out a one-sentence purpose statement for your life. It should describe what you think God wants you to be if you live to be 80. You should base it on biblically determined criteria. Then, underneath that purpose statement, write out some short-term goals that will move you toward your life purpose in each area (spiritual, relational, intellectual, moral, physical, financial, and vocational). Look at it often and readjust as necessary. If you just drift through life without thinking carefully about how to spend your time, you will not end up where God wants you to be. (Ephesians 5:15-17 Walking Wisely).
I am going to give serious thought to doing this exercise for my life. I have other things I like to do, like traveling, but how can I create a purpose statement that identifies where I want to be in ten years that is strictly in obedience to God? How do I merge that with other goals as a senior citizen (like keeping relatively healthy and having financial resources, especially for our charitable trust?). What a great idea!
Enduring Word also has good commentary on these two verses:
a. See then that you walk circumspectly: Because this light was given to us, we should walk circumspectly – carefully, wisely, not as fools.
i. Adam Clarke thought that the phrase not as fools was connected to the practices of devotion to the ancient god Bacchus, worship with drinking and partying. “Do not become madmen. Here is a most evident allusion to the orgies of Bacchus, in which his votaries acted like madmen; running about, tossing their heads from shoulder to shoulder, appearing to be in every sense completely frantic.”
b. Redeeming the time: There were two ancient Greek words used for time. One had the idea simply of day upon day and hour upon hour. The other had the idea of a definite portion of time, a time where something should happen. It is the difference between time and the time. The idea here is of the time; it is a definite season of opportunity that Christians must redeem. This same word is translated opportunity in Galatians 6:10.
i. Paul isn’t telling us to make the most of every moment, even though that is good advice. He tells us to seize opportunity for the glory of Jesus. It isn’t to make the most of time, but to make the most of the time.
ii. The idea behind redeeming the time is that you buy up opportunities like a shrewd businessman. You make the most of every opportunity for Jesus Christ.
c. Because the days are evil: This is another reason why it is important to walk wisely. Jesus spoke of a time when, many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:11-12). Surely we are in those times, because the days are evil.
We waste a lot of regular time every day, but we can optimize what we do for His time as much as possible (prayer, Bible reading and study, giving, telling others about Christ, worship).
My next devotional examines Ephesians 5:17-21 - Be filled with the Spirit.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer -
Dear Lord - Please guide me into creating an effective plan for how I obey You and where I expect to be as a believer in 10 years. Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
“G991 - blepō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 5 Jun, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g991/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
Precept Austin was accessed on 06/05/2026 to commentary for Ephesians 5:15-16. Links to the source documents are provided where appropriate.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. Within the Enduring Word commentary:
Clarke, Adam The New Testament with A Commentary and Critical Notes, Volume II (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1831)