Romans 13:11-12

" 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. 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."

I'm in Romans in my personal study in the Word - in fact, I've been in Romans for almost a year now. In reading through chapter 13 again this morning, the Lord was just pressing upon me the importance of "waking up from sleep". Now, we know that this letter was written to believers in Rome, and in particular this statement is meant for the Christian. The Bible speaks of those who don't know Christ as "dead", it doesn't refer to them as not sleeping, so we know this is for the believer. Now after further reading, I was thinking about in the physical, what causes people to sleep when really they should be awake - I thought about eating to much, over indulging I guess you could say. Also, being bored can be an excuse to just sleep, or maybe a listless attitude towards things could cause some to just sleep and not worry about life. I'm sure there's a lot more that I missed. Now if we apply these things spiritually, we can see how these things can so easily creep into our lives to cause us to spiritually "fall asleep". I was reading Barnhouse on this section and he wrote,

"Have we indulged of the stupefying things of this world and thus fallen asleep ? Have we been living in the close atmosphere of worldliness instead of breathing the fresh air of prayer? Have we been so lazy that we yawn in the face of God? Are we so involved with self that we try to force the knowledge of God below our conscious minds ? "

God calls us to wake up,to be alert. Paul says that the "night is far gone, and the day is at hand". The "night" is the world that we live in today, with all of it's sin and pride and the "day" is that day in which Jesus will come and reclaim this world which is rightfully His. Now Paul says that the "day is at hand" and obviously it is more "at hand" today then ever before. We read all throughout the N.T. verses about how the return of Christ should have a purifying and sanctifying affect in our daily walk with Jesus. Looking around the world today, I really believe that more than ever we as believers must "wake up". Instead of falling asleep in my comfortable life, or getting so caught up in the things of this world (whatever they may be), now more than ever, we should be awake, and telling others of the "day" that is at hand!

I want to write about this passage a little more in the next post. Be praying for those who have never heard, and also pray that you could have the privilege to go and tell them the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. With God's grace brothers and sisters, let's do it!

Blessings,

Carlos