My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, now is the time to stop sleeping and to shake off our physical and mental sluggishness and indifference. We need to change our clothes we sleep in, which are only appropriate to be used in the darkness, and put on clothes that are appropriate to the daylight. We are soldiers for the Lord surrounded by very many enemies now, and it is time for us to equip ourselves with the weapons of our warfare (see 2 Corinthians 10:4) and get ready to fight.

“…knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.”

Romans 13:11-12

Our Resurrection is Coming

For what is life now but a battle? Yet we know that the day is coming soon when we will be resurrected! The life we live here on earth is a form of ‘night’, but our soon-coming resurrection to be with Christ (the Rapture) will be our ‘day’. This day first dawns in us when we hear and respond in our heart to the good news of what Christ did for us on the cross, and then become one of His own.

This good news about Jesus coming for us is like light which warms our hearts. Stop sleeping and get ready to see the glorious day rapidly approaching! In the meantime, we need to get up, grab our weapons, get to work, and not allow sleep to overtake us again.

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

1 John 2:16-17

Darkness and Evil is Coming

The Bible clearly tells us about the darkness of the coming night fast approaching. But it also encourages us with the promised hope of Jesus coming for us soon. It won’t be long before the dark night will end, and then the glory of God will rise like the sun shining over the whole planet! This is the hope that keeps us going as we strive to make it through the darkness.

In our world today, the doors have been flung open for man to live after the flesh in any way his mind can dream up. Jesus forewarned us that “…as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mathew 24:37). People got to the place back in Noah’s time where “…every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” No one held back from doing anything he or she wanted to, even if it was immoral, illegal or ungodly.

We live in an age like that today, where there seem to be no restraints anymore, and people live after their own lusts of the flesh. Since we live in such a world of darkness and know that the night is passing quickly by, we can only survive by putting on Jesus Christ as our Lord, and not making any provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts (see Galatians 5:16).

The Downward State of the World is Not Going to Improve

The spiritual warfare is getting heavier day by day and will continue to grow worse until Jesus comes to lift us out of here. The Bible says that “evil days will wax worse and worse.” This tells us that the difficulties in the meantime are not going to ease up.

But that glorious new day will soon arrive, and in the meantime, we will be given faith to withstand. Then we will be given an opportunity to rest. Will Jesus find us faithful when He comes back? He will if we will stay determined to live and walk after His Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus might come back any time now! We don’t know what day or hour to expect our Bridegroom to come for us, but that means He could very well come today! “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37).

We Must Stop Sleeping and Being Indifferent to Sin

Therefore, since we are of the day because we believe the Gospel and belong to Christ, let’s stop sleeping and not let ourselves slip into an indifferent state of mind. Let’s not be like the people of the world who have become numb to sin and its dangers, and give no thought to what will happen in eternity. It’s time to stay on the alert and not give in to the things of the night that others run after.

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“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night…But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, 4-11

[Image credits: Featured image (when available) by Aaron Burden on Unsplash; Opening image by Akbar Nemati on Freeimages.com]