“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:8-11).
I have recently noticed how movies and television shows have a way of making the evil villains likable. Sometimes it seems as though the villain is the only solid character in the show or in the movie. We cannot be dogmatic in saying this is by coincidence. Rather, Hollywood is trying to make us more accepting of villains because they are only “misunderstood.”
I have seen this throughout several television shows and films, with the most recent being “Maleficent.” Through this movie, we see how Maleficent was misunderstood and taken advantage of. In other words, she was not the true villain. Rather, King Stefan was the villain in her eyes because he broke her heart.
After watching the movie, it makes one more sympathetic of the villain. It is not that they are inherently evil, but rather, their life situations turned them evil. This is not in agreement with the Bible and it does not need to be taught through films. From the moment we are conceived, we are sinners (Psalm 51:5). We are all born into sin and we all freely sin.
None of us can run from this truth nor can we blame our evil heart on anything but our own personal decisions. All of us are given choices everyday and we have to choose to do the right things. We don’t need to blame someone or something else as being the reason we are committing sin. God created all of us with freewill and we can use our freewill to either do good or evil.
With our freewill, we need to choose to do the right things. This means following God even when it is hard. Never should we use our freewill to do evil or to hurt others. God is not pleased with us when we commit sin and live in disobedience to His Word. Instead of following after the sinful flesh, we need to follow after God and listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:8-11 was spoken by the Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus. Even though this was written for the church of Ephesus, it is still applicable to us today. As Paul tells us, we were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. Since we are light in the Lord, we need to live as children of the light. This means we live in accordance with goodness, righteousness, and truth—as Paul says these three things are the fruit of the light.
Paul also tells us we need to find out what pleases the Lord and to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness. Instead of being involved with the workings of darkness, we need to expose them. There never needs to be a day where we endorse darkness or evil. We need to speak out against the fruitless deeds of darkness and bring light to the darkness.
As children of the light, we need to live in accordance with goodness, righteousness, and truth. This can be done by following Jesus, obeying His teachings, and relying on what He says in His Word. We do not need to be overcome by evil. Instead, we need to overcome evil with good. Through Jesus’ work in our life, we can expose the deeds of evil and point unbelievers to Jesus.
Jesus is the light we follow and we can trust Him with our life. No longer do we belong to the darkness—we belong to Him. Therefore, we must start living as children of the light. As believers, we need to bring glory to God in our actions and obey Him in everything we do. The more we shine brightly for Christ, the more others will see Jesus through us.
Our purpose in life is to help unbelievers come to know Jesus. We cannot do this apart from extending Jesus’ love, kindness, and encouragement in our actions. As we are interacting with the lost world, we need to shine brightly for Christ. The way we become bright lights for Jesus is by truly knowing Him, loving Him, and obeying His teachings. Once we have done this, we will shine brightly for our King.
“Dear Jesus, help me to live in accordance with the light. I am a child of Yours, which means I am a child of the light. Please help me to cultivate the fruits of the light, including goodness, righteousness, and truth. Use me to help others come to know You. I want to do everything to help bring people from the darkness to the light. Equip me with Your strength Lord and help me to shine brightly for You. In Your Name, I pray, Amen.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/ Marco Bottigelli
Related Resource: Instead of Doing More This Summer, Maybe You Need to Do Less
If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.
Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
Originally published Monday, 08 September 2025.
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