QT 12/30/2024 Rom 13:11-14, Living in the light

Romans 13:11–14 (ESV) —

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

 

NOTE: So, the bible does have something to say about "woke" and it is not good. We are sleeping spiritually. The night is far gone, and every year we get closer to the return. The day is the time of Jesus' reign. The Greek word for sensuality is aselgeia meaning indulgence in sensual pleasure unrestrained by convention or morality. It means people don't care. I can almost read a level of "pride" in their sin. This is the culture of our day, and yes we need to wake up, but not to stupid ideas of forced equality based on characteristics (some sinful), but to biblical values based upon God himself, who created us, and knows what is best for us.

 

There is a secret in this passage to living a Christ-like life. The secret is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this is three-fold. First, we need to put our faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation from our sins. Second, we need to be saturating our life with God's word by regularly reading the word and praying to him. Third, when we want to get rid of a habit (put off), we need to replace it with its opposite (put on). The example in scripture is the person who steals, that he do something good with his hands -- put off stealing by putting on constructive work with your hands. There are many more examples, ask God to give you insight into what you need to put on to help you with putting off.

 

PONDER:

1. Where am I living? Am in living in the world's darkness, or am I in the world but trying to live in God's light?
2. What do I need to put off? What can I put on to replace the thing I put off?

 

PRAYER: God, give us insight into how we can break habits. We need to repent of sin, and then we need to build good habits to replace old bad habits. Give us strength and wisdom.