Wake from Sleep

“…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. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” - Romans 13:11-14

 I usually listen to the radio in the morning right around the time when I'm still too foggy to exercise or read my bible. Today was a special experience for me, in that I was so quickly offended by what they were saying, and I had to switch it off. I don't offend easily, and part of the reason I listen to the radio, and read the news is to try and keep up with what America has to say about things for which God's already provided the answer.

So the topic was how women's sex lives are better, more specifically, how women are having less sex, but what sex they are having is wilder. The radio folks are operating under the assumption (they stated) that women just know more about sex than they used to, and they are allowed more freedom and accessibility to sexual content and paraphernalia. I won't quote what was said, but I will say they went into unnecessary detail about the use of adult "toys," and how if given to women of years ago, they wouldn't know what to do with them.

 I couldn't believe what I was hearing so early in the morning. So they roll on along, and I get to hear one heartbreaking story after another. Woman after woman all have the same testimony: I was married, now I'm divorced, now the guy I'm with we have great sex, and I'm in a great place. Of the few stories I heard, they all had in common that the children came second, but more than that, the marriage that they had vowed to have together was barely a bump in the road in the story. It was a speed bump on their way to independent happiness.
 
The point? This is why I want to cast this as heartbreaking, and evil. Yes it is sinful and evil, but more as a Christian we should look at these situations not in judgment, but through the lens of the mercy and grace of the Father. For too long believers have built up walls to isolate themselves from people who talk this way. Newsflash: people talk this way whether Christians want to admit it or not. That is why Christ commands us to go to THEM, not wait for them to come to us, and when it gets too heavy run away to "Christian Music" and morality.

Paul is telling the Romans to "cast off the darkness," and not be like the rest of Rome while putting on Christ. We are to make no provision for sin in our own lives. This means that we know when and where we are weak, and we go out of our way to run at Christ and away from our weakness.

We do these things because the people around us are asleep. Not only are they asleep, but they are dragging the rest of the party down with them. The culture spins on its head trying to explain and reexamine the world to itself, when we have the real answers! We can break the ridiculous circular reasoning that our friends and neighbors and relatives talk themselves into. The "I'm ok, because I'm better than that guy, I hope..." mentality is not more powerful than the Gospel. The news that Christ died for the world is bigger than anything man can throw at it.

But who will tell them. Nobody on that radio program will read this. I reach virtually nobody when compared to syndicated radio. But that doesn't mean I quit. Christians can't stop preaching the Gospel because they are discouraged. Who are we to be discouraged? It is God that does the work through us, and in those hearing the Gospel. We are not responsible for their reaction, but we are responsible that people around us HAVE a reaction. Live in a way that exemplifies Christ, and insodoing preach repentance and salvation to a world that doesn't understand that it needs it. And pray. It's just that easy, right?