Lord, help us to measure our days...
From Romans 13: 11 Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now 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. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires
How many songs do you know with "Time" in the title? How many hymns do you know with the word "time" in the title? The first as I read the passage was an old song by Chicago, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is?" The group Chicago also had a song called "25 or 6 to 4" with the title coming from someone in the group sleepily asking what time it was, and the one closest to the clock replied, "25 or 6 to 4." I guess with the group's name originally being The Chicago Transit Authority they should be concerned about time. There was a song during our daughters' high school years, "What Time Is It?" by The Spin Doctors. Earlier than that, the Rolling Stones had one called "Time is On My Side." The hymn list is a bit harder, but "Take Time to Be Holy" is one, "Time By Moments, Slips Away," and "'Tis Almost Time for the Lord to Come."
How many watches do you own? I love watches. Mainly to admire in store windows. I do have more than one watch and they were gifts or purchases based on their face. I have two Mickey Mouse watches that came as a discounted bonus for purchases made, and my favorite is one with a beige face with a brown global map, that I bought at the Bargain Bazaar on 23rd Street in McAllen. My most favorite watch is my grandfather's watch that he received from working with Missouri Pacific Railroad, a very nice, but very delicate pocket watch. He gave it to my Dad with orders that it be mine, which I now have and plan to pass on as time goes on. But Paul makes an Advent statement, "You know what hour it is, how it is full time now 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." Paul was always an urgent man with much to do and much to say. His encounter with Jesus made him all that more intense about life and about life after this one. He felt an excitement to tell as many people as he could about God and how God had sent Jesus and how we must accept Jesus as the Messiah and as Lord and Savior. He also wanted those who said Yes to Jesus to feel the same urgency. His opinion was that through Christ we had left behind a theological time of darkness and entered into a time of "day" with our being the bearers of that "light" as we "put on the armor of light." For Paul for one to live in darkness was not acceptable; we must work to pull people out of that darkness by our lives of light and bring them with us into the light. Thanks to recent downpours, this was illustrated by those waiting after church near the doors for it to subside and for those of us with umbrellas to offer to walk people to their cars. Most said I'll wait it out. Sadly, some people in darkness feel the same. No thanks, I'm fine.
Paul urges us to conduct ourselves as people who live in the bright light of the day. Soon the little ones around you will die at the slowness of Christmas Eve to become day so that presents can be either opened or enjoyed. We're not there yet, we're preparing for that day and that special birth of Jesus. Paul says for us to model a life that shows a better way to live, "not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy." A joyous but sober life, enjoying the preciousness of life and what it offers without arguing and fighting with others about this or that.
Paul says we are to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," as a covering or clothing that says who we are and Whose we are. He knew the importance of behavior reflecting our attire, and if we are dressed as wearing Jesus, we should be as our name says, "Little Jesusses" striving for the spiritual and not the physical. That is part of our preparation for the coming celebration of the first birth and for Jesus' return one day.
We have much to do and many yet to tell!
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for Jesus and His first coming. Help me to live my life in the ways that my life was changed as a result of that coming; help me to be faithful and fruitful in sharing and inviting and doing as was taught me. This I pray in Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
