Day or Night Light or Darkness

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

DAY OR NIGHT

LIGHT OR DARKNESS

1 Thess 5:4-11

4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

NIV

Here Paul makes the distinction between the people of the day and the people of the night. Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior live in the daylight, while those who have not accepted Jesus live in the darkness of night. It makes perfect sense that we would live in the daylight because Jesus is the light. Our hearts have been illuminated by him, by the living word of God. This idea of those who live in the darkness of night are asleep and are drunkards is more of a metaphor for people who live for their own pleasures and have no concern about God or living in a manner that pleases God. They are the lost, their minds have not been illuminated by the truth of God so they are in the dark and cannot see the way to salvation if they even care about being saved. But we have a certain about of self-control, which is one of the fruit of the Spirit. We cannot say we have perfect self-control for that would be boasting in self rather than boasting in Christ, as we know that we fail at that controlling of ourselves at times. One moment of anger, or impatience or lust or some other human response, then we would not have total control of our self. Nevertheless, we are aware of our failures because we live in the light and it exposes our faults. Those who live in darkness are not even aware they are living in sin that leads to death. Again we have the breastplate of faith and love in place and have put on the helmet of salvation. That sounds a lot like God’s armor that Paul tells the Ephesians about. We can be assured that God has determined that those who are in Christ will not suffer wrath but we will receive salvation. We are saved from the wrath of God because we live in the daylight. His wrath will be upon all who live in the darkness of night. Having received salvation through Jesus we will be with Him. We live with him now in one sense, as we are aware of the presence of the Spirit who dwells within us, but we will also live together for all eternity with Jesus in that place he is preparing for us. So I will spur you on, I will encourage you, I will build you up, as you do the same for me. Live in the day, forget about the night, you are a child of the day.