8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:8-14

When I wake up my kids on a school day, not only do I call out to them, but I also turn on the lights! The light works longer than my voice!

In Christ our lives have been flooded with light. Jesus described the transformation this way, “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) Belonging to Jesus causes us to live as people of light. Light is powerful. Even a little bit of light shining in the dark can lead us forward. Jesus has not been stingy with the light, He says our lives have filled up with His light.

However, even as His followers we can dim the light. And that is tragic. As a follower of Jesus we are making 1000’s of small choices to either keep the light bright and unhindered or to turn it down. Paul highlights two of those processes.
1. Carefully determining what pleases the Lord.
2. Determining not to participate with other people in the pursuit of “worthless” empty deeds of evil and darkness.

The presence of Jesus is light. Exposure to light creates unease in people because of the disease in their hearts. Its no wonder that accusations fly against the light when there is a confrontation of light into the darkness. But we must keeping hoping that the love, purity, honesty, humility, goodness, faithfulness, and joy produced by the Gospel in your life exposes and dispels the gloom of darkness.

God says today to me and to you, “Wake up O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”