April 27 Click on verses for Full Scripture	previous - - - - - - - - - - next
Today's Pathway: Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Having shown the importance of Biblical love, Paul now urges his readers to more fervent service to the Lord. He starts off by telling them that they "know the time". The time he is referring to is the return of Christ, although we could simply view it as the moment when our opportunities to serve the Lord on earth end. "The time" is defined in verse 11 as the point when "our salvation" fully takes place. Since we will obtain all the eternal blessings of salvation when we leave this world, death or the rapture must be in view. Paul is saying that the time when we can no longer serve the Lord on this earth is drawing near. We as believers should certainly understand that. We can look around us and see that the Lord will probably not tarry His coming much longer. And besides that, we are all getting older and closer to death. It is much closer than it was when we first believed. Personally, I was saved in 1979. The Lord's return, or my departure, is 42 years closer than it was at that time. Humanly speaking, how much more time on this earth do I really have? James 4:14 states,

"For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." All of us need to really grasp that fact, and then act upon it.

Paul says that because we are running out of time there are three obligations that each believer has. The first is to wake up. There are two different Greek words translated "time" here. The first word "time" carries the idea of a period of time. The second "time" refers to an hour or an instant. Paul is saying that, knowing that we are in the end times, we need to wake up right this second. The Greek word translated "sleep" is the word from which we get our English word "hypnotize" Phil Newton had these comments:

"Paul is exhorting believers to "Throw off the hypnotic state". He’s not talking about literal sleep but rather the sluggish, dulled, hypnotic, and almost trance-like state that the world lulls us into. The alarm has gone off. It’s time to awaken, or literally, "arise", from the sluggish, hypnotic state induced by the world."

"What do Christians look like who are 'asleep' in this way? I believe such 'spiritual slumber' shows itself in a slackening of the intensity of their faith. They may read their Bibles, but not with much excitement or application. They don't "tremble" at God's word. They may pray, but not with much earnestness, or effectiveness, or expectation. They may go to church, but only as 'spectators' and 'consumers', and not as a properly working part of the Body that contributes to its growth. They may be around non-believers, but they're not excited enough about their own faith to present it to others as 'ambassadors of Christ'. They're saved; but are just sort of taking a 'spiritual siesta' all the time."

Do you understand what time it is? Are you awake? Or is your personal Christianity functioning in a hypnotic state?