I love a good sleep in
Ah, sleeping in. I remember the days. Staying in bed all morning so you can stay up all night. Sadly, with 3 boys, it doesn’t happen all that often for me. But it is a great part of being a teenager. However, when it comes to our Christian lives, it is vitally important that we are not caught napping. Romans 13:11b says
“The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
Paul is not talking here about Saturday morning sleep-ins. He is talking about snoozing spiritually; not being ready for our salvation which is daily getting closer. You see, those who have received God’s mercy (the mercy of sins forgiven through the blood of Jesus) ought to live sacrificial, worshipful, transformed lives (Rom. 12:1-2). And to do this we need to stop snoozing.
It's time to wake up!
Paul goes on to explain some of what spiritual snoozing looks like in the next few verses. It means getting involved with drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, dissension and jealousy. If you are involved with any of these then you need to stop snoozing, wake up from your slumber and repent.
You need to put aside these deeds of darkness and instead, put on the armour of light (Rom. 13:12). In other words, you need to clothe yourself with the holy character of the Lord Jesus Christ and not waste your life thinking about how to gratify or satisfy the desires of your sinful nature (Rom. 13:14).
This is tough stuff. We like sleeping in, snug in our beds of selfishness and sinfulness. We find it quite comfortable sleeping with our enemy – sin. Waking up from our spiritual slumber seems almost impossible; even harder than getting out of bed on a cold winter’s morning.
So how can we do it? Well, the first step is to keep remembering God’s mercy. Keep focusing on Jesus, our great God and Saviour, who gave his life for us, when we were his spiritual enemies. He bled and died for us and His love should compel and motivate us to stop snoozing and start living for Him.
The hour has come. Maybe this is the alarm clock you needed. Wake up and dress yourself with the clothes of Jesus. And remember, if you snooze, you lose.