Finishing up on the relationship stealers, Paul’s statement in our text of today is worth reflecting on—You know that when you were heathen, you were led off after idols that could not speak [habitually] as impulse directed and whenever the occasion might arise.
 
The expression here is of a people who were captured and led away after idols (sadly these days these idols speak!), deceived and led to worship gods that consumed their time, the time to build a lasting relationship with God. This is what Paul warned against, as true for us today as was for the believers in the Ephesian church.
 
Ephesians 4:17-19 (TPT)—So with the wisdom given to me from the Lord I say: You should not live like the unbelievers around you who walk in their empty delusions. Their corrupted logic has been clouded because their hearts are so far from God—their blinded understanding and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them from the true knowledge of God. Because of spiritual apathy, they surrender their lives to lewdness, impurity, and sexual obsession (promoted by the gods that held them captive, what they watched and listened to) emphasis mine

Ephesians 5:8, 14-20 (TPT)—Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light!…This is why the Scripture says, “Arise, you sleeper! Rise up from your coffin and the Anointed One will shine his light into you!” So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes. And don’t live foolishly for then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will. And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead be filled continually with the Holy Spirit. And your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord. Keep speaking to each other with words of Scripture, singing the Psalms with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit! Always give thanks to Father God for every person he brings into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Here beloved saint, deliver yourself from the distractive enslavement tools put in our hands, in our homes and all around us. They are here but you must be discerning, understanding the will of God for your life. The only satisfying thing is the pursuit of His purpose as established for your life. Time no longer brother, time no longer sister. Shalom.

Pastor Afolabi Oladele