Ephesians 5:10-11
...find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Reflection
We are instructed to find out what pleases the Lord. Why? So that we can be involved in what is good in the Lord’s sight. Paul is saying to choose to live in light over living in darkness. We do that by discovering and then doing that which pleases the Lord.
On the other hand Paul says to completely turn from the deeds of darkness. Why? The deeds of darkness do not produce fruit. Nothing good comes out of the darkness because the deed of darkness are evil. Paul says that we shouldn’t just spurn the deeds of darkness we should expose them.
We might take this to mean that Paul is saying to point out other’s transgressions and wrongdoing. However, he might also mean that we should be honest about our own shortcomings and sin and confess them and expose them to the light of God so that they can be dealt with. It is much easier to return to sin that we keep secret. When we expose sin through confession we have a greater incentive to turn away from it.
