WAKE UP AND SEE THE LIGHT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:9-10

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Nothing good ever happens after midnight.

It’s a saying that has been around for quite a while. Maybe you have heard someone say it. Maybe you have said it as well.

The proverb is meant to convey that after darkness falls and most people are snuggled into the security of their homes and snuggled up in sleep, there is a dark underbelly of society that is awake and seeking to do wrong. Sinful behavior often waits until the light has gone before it creeps out of the shadows to bring evil to the world and anyone who happens to be up and about. The wise person will avoid placing themselves in a position to be victimized.

We can take this matter of sin happening after darkness falls and apply it in a different context to life in general. For sinful behavior can happen at any time of the day when a person chooses to walk in darkness, no matter whether the sun has raised or set.

In other words, we can live in the dark while everything around us is basking in light. It happens to millions and millions of people every day.

This truth, that people can be living in great darkness, no matter the time of day, is not just a present day phenomenon. Rather, it has been existent since sin entered into the world in Eden’s garden. In fact, there was a point where the people of Israel were so immersed in the darkness of iniquity that the prophet Isaiah shared a special, life altering prediction of what was to come. He wrote this in the second verse of the Old Testament book that bears his name:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

On the road to eternal torment and destruction from a God who hated sin, the Israelites were going to receive a Light from God, a Light that would dawn and save His people from judgment and damnation.

That Light was Jesus.

You see, God sent His only Son to lead His people into a place of pardon, justified by believing in the Lamb of God who came and took away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus became the only way that a person could come to God the Father but He also was the One who could help a sinner reform themselves, the One who could help guide them to live as He lived. He said so Himself when He proclaimed He was the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

Want to walk in the light, living in the kind of righteousness God expected?

Then walk in the way Jesus walked. Model your life after His and you will always be living right and righteously in the sight of God.

This is the point we find the Apostle Paul making to his Roman audience in our scripture passage to day from Romans 13. Look again at his words here:

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Vv. 9-10

You’ll recall in the verses preceding verse 9, Paul implores the Romans to love their neighbors while steering away from sinful behavior that would anything but loving. In order to do this, they would need to “wake up from their slumber”, to rouse from their darkness and allow the Light of Jesus to illuminate their transgressions. For when looking at one’s self through the eyes of Christ, one would see their hopeless state. God’s Son would expose all deeds of darkness which included carousing, debauchery, sexual immorality, dissension, and jealousy. Any desires of the flesh would be squelched so that the desires of the Spirit reigned dominant in the life of the Jesus follower, the one who clothed themselves with Christ and, in doing so, put on the armor of light which came courtesy of the Lord of Light.

Friend, if you’re reading this today and you have been in slumber, I encourage you to follow the encouragement offered by Paul and wake from your slumber. Don’t miss your chance at gaining salvation from Jesus, the Light, because you failed to emerge from the darkness of sin. For Jesus is going to return and that return could come at any moment.

Please be ready when He comes.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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