Night and Day

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

NIGHT AND DAY

Rom 13:11-14

11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 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. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  

NIV

Be aware of the preciousness of time. We have but one life to live in the current form of our body and we should make the most of the time we have. That does not mean in terms of either our position in life or of material gain. Paul is talking about waking up from our slumber, to see the truth about salvation. He makes this analogy about night and day. Once we lived in the darkness of night and we did those things that the night covers with its lack of light. However, more importantly, we were spiritually asleep and in need of the dawn of day, the light of the world. Paul uses this term of the armor of light that we are to clothe ourselves in, which he repeats in a clear way but telling us to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have noted in our studies of his letter to those in Ephesus when he talks about the armor of God, each piece of the armor is a description of the Lord Jesus Christ, thus saying that we should clothe ourselves with Jesus. He is our shield of faith that protects us from the attacks of the devil. He is our helmet of salvation, giving us knowledge of the truth. He is our truth grided around us, so the lies of the devil are known to us. He is our peace in which we walk, and the sword, his very word, that overcomes, strikes the very heart of the evil one. So as we are clothed in Jesus it would be rather obvious we would behave decently as in the daytime, where all we do can be seen by all. It would also seem obvious as living clothed in Jesus that we would not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Surely we do not take part in orgies or drunkenness or sexual immorality and debauchery which the Greek word means unbridled lust. We would also not take part in dissension and jealousy, but there lies a problem as these two are simply attitudes that cannot be seen as the behaviors of the night can be seen in the day. We must be careful in our mind, our thinking, and our attitudes so as to not live in dissension or strife, which is the opposite of living in harmony with all believers, all singing the same tune, sounding like one great choir singing praise to our Lord. Envy, which is the excitement of the mind, which is the envious and contentious rivalry, or jealousy that can cause all sorts of disharmony in the choir. We must live in the moment of the day, living in the Spirit, doing that which we are, an image bearer of God, shining like a star, a light to the world, the salt of the earth, showing the world the light of day, Jesus Christ, the truth, the light, and the way. There is a vast difference between the night and the day, and we are awake and living in the fullest of the day.