Awaken!

Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:14b-16

When I was a child everything was new and fresh and I had no way of distinguishing good from evil.  Good and evil were concepts that I had to learn, and every teacher’s ideas on the matter seemed to vary.  One teacher might view going barefoot as being evil, while another saw the devil in Richard Nixon.  Evil could be pretty subjective and by the time I became an adult I was pretty confused as to what constituted good and evil.  There was of course the obvious: murder, war, greed… It was the details that I had difficulty sorting out; like white lies, and ends justifying means or vice-versa.  It was the gray areas, the razors edge, and the slippery slopes that had me constantly skating on thin ice, and I guess I’m not alone because there is a whole field of study dedicated to my dilemma called ethics.  We are called to be wise, yet wisdom is not so easy to pin down and pass on.  The world is constantly changing, and new scenarios are always presenting themselves.  50 years ago we knew nothing of global warming or internet bullying, or even airport security.  Today these things are commonplace, and we must agree on new wisdom to deal with them.  As we deepen our relationship with Christ however, the light begins to shine and good and evil are exposed beneath the constantly shifting sands of time.  The guidance is there – sure and steady.  Do we have the courage to wake up and let Christ’s light shine on us?