“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. 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” (Romans 13:11-12)

As we begin the season of Advent we look back to remember the first coming of Christ as an infant born in Bethlehem. Yet we also look forward to His Second Advent, His second coming. In this passage from Romans, we see that the Apostle Paul looked forward to the imminent return of Christ, as have Christians for 2000 years. He proclaimed that this expectation ought to motivate believers to live as if He could return at any moment.

Paul tells us that we can do this because we are clothed with Christ. We have the armor of light. What does Paul mean by this? We are living in God’s kingdom now, even though we are living still in the world. Therefore he exhorts his fellow believers to live out their salvation, do God’s work and obey His will.

As we go through Advent, we believers should take heed of what Paul says. We should be living in the Kingdom of God now. The night is almost over, so its time to awaken, to get up and live in the Kingdom of God. It’s time to stop behaving like the world, indulging our sinful desires, to stop being selfish, stop using excuses for our sins both large and small. It’s time to stop stealing, lying and cheating. It’s time to turn from pornography, marital infidelity, drunkenness, gluttony, materialism and perverse behavior. It’s time to stop exploiting and abusing others. It’s time to put on the armor of light, to be clothed in the Lord Jesus, to leave behind us the ways of our sinful nature, our flesh. It’s time we put him on like a garment, like a robe so that what He would do is what we would do, who He loves we would love. It’s time to do deeds of goodness and mercy as Jesus would.

We represent Christ to the world. We must respect other peoples, other cultures, but this does not mean we living as the world does or condone evil or idolatry. We are to act as Jesus does, loving and forgiving as He does, seeking justice for the downtrodden and the oppressed. We must resist temptation, sin, and evil every day. We must not give in. We must live in light of the fact that the Kingdom of God is already here. As we are clothed with Christ’s righteousness, we are also clothed with His power through the Holy Spirit. It is time to make use of His strength. It is time to start living in the light, in the real world, in the Kingdom of God.