This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 

Romans 13:11-12

Nearly two thousand years ago, Paul expressed a sense of urgency to the believers in Rome. While the LORD still has not returned, time is running out for each of us whether we like it or not!

Paul’s theology of the “already/not yet” state we find ourselves in is evident in the next sentence. We are saved, but we are also being saved as we have yet to realize the fullness of the salvation provided by Christ’s sacrifice.

In the fictional world of Narnia, C.S. Lewis describes the world as “always Winter, never Christmas” to illustrate the world as we know it is in need of redemption. Lewis was influenced by the sentiment of Paul –

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,^[j] including the new bodies he has promised us. 

Romans 8:22-23

Today’s spiritual darkness will give way as “the day of salvation will soon be here.”

So how do we respond? We are to recommit our lives to Christ and remove our dark deeds and “put on the shining armor of right living.”