There are few things in life more shameful than sleeping when you ought to be working, or slacking off when you ought to be diligent. When your calling is to be active, it is inappropriate and even sinful to remain passive. This is especially true when it comes to contexts that are of the highest importance and the greatest urgency.
I sometimes wonder if the closing paragraph of Romans 13 is one of those sections we tend to overlook a little bit. It’s sandwiched between controversial passages that receive a great deal of attention—one explaining how Christians are to relate to civil government and one explaining how Christians are to behave when they disagree on the kind of freedom the gospel brings.
In the middle of these two passages we find Paul sounding a kind of alarm and urging Christians to understand and respond appropriately to the context we live in. “You know the time,” he says, “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.”
“You know the time,” he says. He means that
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