Ephesians 5:8-19, especially vs. 8: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light." After the swift, four day campaign in 1943 during which his army swept ashore and occupied the Vichy French colony of Morocco, American General George S. Patton issued an order to his troops using a classic speech-maker's device - a situational declaration followed by a series of commands: Patton declared, "Each one of you is a representative of a great and victorious army." And then he ordered, "Stand up, keep your clothes buttoned, your chin straps fastened. Salute your officers...." In the Epistle for today, St. Paul uses this exact same time-tested method. He declares, " You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (vs. 
; and he follows his declaration with a string of commands, starting with, "Walk as children of the light" (vs. . The subsequent commands in the Apostle's list are expansions of this first command.
The reader should notice that throughout the passage both the declaration and its related commands are paired - a positive connected with a parallel negative - "once darkness" - "now...light" (vs. , "have no fellowship" - "rather expose them" (vs. 11), and "walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise" (vs. 15). It is also clear that all of the commands are rooted in the nature of being a Christian - of being "light in the Lord" (vs. and the basic command that follows from such discipleship - "walk as children of the light" (vs. . There are four paired commands given by the Apostle for us to take to heart and carry out.
The first command is: "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them"(vs. 11). Deliberate choice is clearly implied in this imperative. We may choose those with whom we have fellowship - koinonia.- or communion. But by openly opting out of idolatry or immorality, we expose such worship or gatherings for what they are, for what St. Paul elsewhere calls, "the cup of the demons" (1 Cor. 10:21). Light exposes darkness.
Next, the Apostle commands us to "see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise"(Eph. 5:15). Of course, Biblically, a fool is one who says, "There is no God" (Ps. 13:1 LXX). But we are children of the light (Eph. 5:8), who have wakened from sleep and received the light of wisdom from Christ (vs. 14), despite the evil days of this present age (vs. 16).
The key to avoiding unwise choices is to "understand what the will of the Lord is" (vs. 17), as St. Paul's next command to us indicates. This directive points any committed Christian toward regular participation in the Liturgy, a regular prayer rule, the reading of Holy Scripture, and the constant petitioning of our gracious God to "come and dwell in us and cleanse us of every stain of sin," and to "illumine our hearts...with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge." It is so easy, by false choices, to be led astray from the blessings of God.
Finally, the Apostle orders that we "not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (vs. 18). So much of pagan worship surrounding the early Christians was little more than orgies and bacchanals, to which St. Paul offers the obvious, positive option of the "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs"(vs. 19) of the Church's Divine worship, that always encourages "singing and making melody in [one'] heart to the Lord" (vs. 19).
So, how do we "walk as children of the light" (vs. ? The Apostle Paul directs us to avoid obvious evil company, heed the Church's teaching, seek God in regular devotion and to practice moderation in our daily living. For, after all, we are "light in the Lord" (vs. .
Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants as may be most expedient for us, granting us in this world the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the age to come, eternal life.