Eph. 5:15-16 ... "Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil."
Throughout the Bible there is the division of people into two categories, those who are wise and those who are fools. A "wise man" is defined in Pro. 1:5 as a person who "will hear and increase in learning." A "fool" is then defined in v.7 as one who "despise(s) wisdom and instruction." Although the wise listen to instruction from any source and devote themselves to learning its message, first and foremost they devote their attention to "the fear of the Lord" which is "the beginning of knowledge" (v.7). And though fools usually disregard instruction of any kind, their greatest folly is to ignore God's revelation. Throughout the Old Testament, but especially in the book of Proverbs, attention is focused upon the differences between the wise and the foolish, counseling us to be wise in order to benefit from its results and to avoid being foolish in order to escape its tragic consequences. In the lead text above, the apostle Paul projects his exhortation against that great expanse of inspired counsel from the past.
It is characteristic of the wise to walk carefully, which means to choose your path of life with great care. The King James translation here reads to "walk circumspectly." There is perspective expressed in the term "circumspectly," which is formed from the Latin circum (around) and spectare (to look). The idea is that as a person moves forward in life, he should be carefully looking at the scene about him. He looks forward to what he can perceive is about to confront him. He looks left and right to the actions of others, and even occasionally looks backward to remember lessons that past experience has taught.
No one can actually see into the future, but the wise man will be so astute an observer of current trends and probabilities that he can fairly predict where he is headed and takes action appropriately. The fool is so preoccupied with the frivolities of the moment that he takes no thought of where he is going and suffers greatly from the consequences. We are told in Pro. 22:3 that "the prudent man sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished for it." The wise man studies the behavior of other people to see whether it conforms to or departs from the canons of righteousness. If it conforms, then he associates himself with those people and participates in their activities, but if it varies from that norm, he avoids those transgressors and disapproves of their ways. The wise are urged in Pro. 1:10, 15-16, "If sinners entice you, do not consent. ... Do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood." The wise apply their memory to hold on to lessons learned in the school of experience and those learned from godly teachers, so that they may be able to put them to good use in the present. Christians are urged in Heb. 2:1 to "pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it."
Finally, Eph. 5:15-16 counsels us to "mak(e) the most of your time." This may be translated as "redeem the time." In the literal sense, past time cannot be redeemed (recovered), for past time is with God and cannot be purchased with the wealth of nations or extracted from Him with the power of the universe. But it is well within our power to make the best use of present opportunities to improve our lives, minister to others, and produce fruit for our Master. A wise person will fine-tune his perception to see opportunities, shake off the common tendency toward inertia, and press forward to exploit them. Our prayer should always be: "Lord, open my eyes to see the good that I can do today; and give me the boldness to undertake it, and the resolve to see it through to completion and success."
