“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” – Romans 13:11
How often do you think about this reality? Jesus is coming back SOON. It could literally happen at any moment. Heaven breaking open, drawing everyone’s attention to the East to see Jesus coming on the clouds. What a wild and glorious moment that will be!
Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that it’s time to wake up because our salvation is drawing near. But what does it mean to wake up? In the very next verse he says, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
We are called children of the light. Light shines in darkness. Light doesn’t conform to the dark world around it, it stands out and illuminates everything! A verse that I recently memorized in the book of Philippians says this: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”
Paul instructs us to look radically different than the world around us. Not just slightly different, but so different that we SHINE among them like stars in the sky. Is it evident to the people around you that you follow Jesus based on your morals, priorities, words and weekend plans? Or do you just claim to be a Christian?
James 2:26 says that faith without works is dead. This is explained further in James 1:22-25: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
My heart aches thinking about the people that I love who haven’t woken up. Their salvation is on the line.. an eternity in the very presence of God, or an eternity of immense suffering.
“Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Act on Paul’s warning… Wake up.
March 5, 2026 | March Invoice Verse
