Post by Les on Apr 9, 2024 9:22:46 GMT -6
Clothed in Christ By: Karen Pimpo
Click here for the Audio Message
Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Romans 13:12
Today's Scripture & Insight :
Romans 13:11-14
I was so excited to put on my new glasses for the first time, but after just a few hours I wanted to throw them away. My eyes ached and head throbbed from adjusting to the new prescription. My ears were sore from the unfamiliar frames. The next day I groaned when I remembered I had to wear them. I had to repeatedly choose to use my glasses each day in order for my body to adjust. It took several weeks, but after that, I hardly noticed I was wearing them.
Putting on something new requires an adjustment, but over time we grow into it, and it suits us better. We may even see things we didn’t see before. In Romans 13, the apostle Paul instructed Christ followers to “put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:12) and practise right living. They had already believed in Jesus, but it seems they had fallen into “slumber” and become complacent; they needed to “wake up” and take action, behave decently and let go of all sin (vv. 11-12). Paul encouraged them to be clothed with Jesus and become more like Him in their thoughts and deeds (v. 14).
We don’t begin to reflect the loving, gentle, kind, grace-filled and faithful ways of Jesus overnight. It’s a long process of choosing to “put on the armour of light” every day, even when we don’t want to because it’s uncomfortable. Over time, He changes us for the better.
Reflect & Pray
What does it look like to “put on” Jesus today? How does practising Christ-likeness become more comfortable over time?
Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re transforming me day by day.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
At the end of Romans 13, Paul contrasts darkness and light. The interplay between the two is symbolic for the life that people lived before believing in Christ and the life they now live in Him. This contrast is seen in several of the apostle’s letters. Before coming to Jesus, we “were once darkness” (Ephesians 5:8), performed “deeds of darkness” (v. 11), and belonged to “the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13 ) and “to the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
After coming to Christ, however, we’re not to have fellowship with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14), should “live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), and have nothing to do with the “fruitless deeds of darkness” (v. 11). We’ve been rescued “from the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13) and are “children of the light and children of the day” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:5).
J.R. Hudberg
Romans 13:11-14
King James Version
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.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Click here for the Audio Message
Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Romans 13:12
Today's Scripture & Insight :
Romans 13:11-14
I was so excited to put on my new glasses for the first time, but after just a few hours I wanted to throw them away. My eyes ached and head throbbed from adjusting to the new prescription. My ears were sore from the unfamiliar frames. The next day I groaned when I remembered I had to wear them. I had to repeatedly choose to use my glasses each day in order for my body to adjust. It took several weeks, but after that, I hardly noticed I was wearing them.
Putting on something new requires an adjustment, but over time we grow into it, and it suits us better. We may even see things we didn’t see before. In Romans 13, the apostle Paul instructed Christ followers to “put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:12) and practise right living. They had already believed in Jesus, but it seems they had fallen into “slumber” and become complacent; they needed to “wake up” and take action, behave decently and let go of all sin (vv. 11-12). Paul encouraged them to be clothed with Jesus and become more like Him in their thoughts and deeds (v. 14).
We don’t begin to reflect the loving, gentle, kind, grace-filled and faithful ways of Jesus overnight. It’s a long process of choosing to “put on the armour of light” every day, even when we don’t want to because it’s uncomfortable. Over time, He changes us for the better.
Reflect & Pray
What does it look like to “put on” Jesus today? How does practising Christ-likeness become more comfortable over time?
Dear Jesus, thank You that You’re transforming me day by day.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
At the end of Romans 13, Paul contrasts darkness and light. The interplay between the two is symbolic for the life that people lived before believing in Christ and the life they now live in Him. This contrast is seen in several of the apostle’s letters. Before coming to Jesus, we “were once darkness” (Ephesians 5:8), performed “deeds of darkness” (v. 11), and belonged to “the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13 ) and “to the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
After coming to Christ, however, we’re not to have fellowship with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14), should “live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), and have nothing to do with the “fruitless deeds of darkness” (v. 11). We’ve been rescued “from the dominion of darkness” (Colossians 1:13) and are “children of the light and children of the day” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:5).
J.R. Hudberg
Romans 13:11-14
King James Version
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.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.