Our Scripture meditation is based on Romans 13:11-14, part of next week’s Epistle Reading.
[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.
There are few Scripture passages more fitting for the start of the new church than this section of Romans chapter 13.
The Apostle Paul is suggesting that the Christians in Rome had fallen asleep when it comes to the Christian life. That is why Paul warns them about such sins as drunkenness, sexual immortality, and quarreling.
Instead of simply calling them to repentance, Paul reminds that brothers and sisters that “salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” This is not the salvation earned when Jesus died and rose from the dead. It is not the salvation these believers received when they were baptized or when they heard the Gospel and were baptized. No, this salvation is when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. When Christ returns the risk of His people falling away from the faith will end. There will be no sin in the new heavens and new earth.
Paul’s instruction to the Romans applies to us. As we start the new church year we are closer to either to Christ’s return, or our falling asleep in the Lord, than we were during the last church year. This final gift of salvation is strong motivation to live to please our Savior.
Until next week, the Lord bless and guide.
Kevin Wilson 360 