Are you a 'deep diver'?

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. (Ephesians 5:10-14)

Carefully determine - while most of us have a general understanding of what God expects of us, how many of us have gone so far as to do a 'deep dive' into scripture to truly understand what pleases the Lord? We have heard the stories of how Israel erected a golden image, knowing that God abhors idols of any kind. We listened to sermons that reminded us to turn the other cheek, knowing God values grace and forgiveness. Yet do we truly understand what the 'worthless deeds of evil and darkness' really are? Perhaps understanding what 'pleases God' is made clear when we understand what light brings out of hiding in the lives of others and ourselves!

In the simplest sense, any action that is in opposition to God's will is a 'deed of darkness'. How many times do we walk so close to the boundaries God has established between good and evil, knowing very well that a 'closeness' to the things God has declared out of bounds for our lives isn't what he desires? There are times I know what to do (doing what is right) but then choose to just ignore the urge to do it (doing what is wrong). Seeing a piece of paper on the ground should prompt me to pick it up and put it in the trash can, but do I do it? While the 'deed' of leaving the paper there is not 'evil', it isn't right if I ignore what I know I should do, is it?

We might understand and live by the 'big' commandments, such as do not commit adultery or don't steal. Do we understand and live by the 'smaller' commandments, such as 'train up a child in the way he is to go'? What? That is a commandment? If God tells us a way to act or gives us a responsibility in his Word, you bet it is! This is why it is so important for us to read and understand his Word. We will become aware of any place in our lives where we are allowing 'darkness' or the 'worthless deeds of this world' to form or sculpt our behavior. We will come to an understanding of what pleases God - what is not contrary to his commands.

We may not see the need to do our own 'deep dive' into scripture, allowing ourselves to be spiritually fed tidbits of truth by others, but if we really want to get to know God's will, we need to 'feed regularly' on the truth contained therein. Just sayin!