11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

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The Day Is Near

11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come(A) for you to wake up from your slumber,(B) because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.(C) So let us put aside the deeds of darkness(D) and put on the armor(E) of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness,(F) not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.(G) 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,(H) and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[a](I)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 13:14 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.