The other 11 months
Romans 13:10-14 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
We are steadily approaching Christmas week, the celebration of the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been thinking, praying, and studying on the message for this coming Sunday. This coming week there will be the message of Christ’s birth 2000 years ago, but there will also be the message of his return; Lord willing he doesn’t return before then. If we are truly a child of His, we should grasp the grace that God bestowed upon us that day in that barn. We should grasp that our eternal lives were secured by that incarnation of God himself; humbled beyond description, destined to die for our redemption. All to pay for our sins for which we could not ever pay on our own. He came and died to provide what we could not ever accomplish by any good deed, or work, or sacrifice in any way.
Paul writes in Romans of this coming day, the day that Christ returns. He speaks of how we are to live our lives as an expression of love; 1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. This time of year we many times find ourselves doing our good deeds, showing expressions of our love for our fellow man, or those that are seemingly less fortunate. It brings about a good feeling inside when we perform these tasks; it shows a warm heart and hopefully an example of Christ living inside of us. But what about the other 11 months out of the year? Do we return to our worldly ways on January 1st and live for ourselves and our worldly pursuits? Do we reflect Christ for those other 11months?
Paul is truly pointing the finger at us, he is reminding us that every day brings us closer to Christ return. Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. In these days of office parties and New Years celebrations, take time to remember the true meaning of the season and how you are reflecting it. When He returns, we shall stand before him and give an account of our lives. It will be much better to live all 12 months out of the year in with the evidence of love that He gives us.
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