The Best Part of Waking Up

Romans 13:11–14

Phrases that spoke to me today:
knowing the time
wake from sleep
the night is far gone;
the day is at hand put on the Lord Jesus Christ

Applying the Word to My Life:
Every year I put on a fundraiser with Stacey and my friend Mike to raise money for veterans in our area. This includes a large fireworks show to end the night. It takes us more than a month to get everything ready, but it gets intense the weekend of the show. We are up late the night before getting things ready for the big day, and we are back out early the next morning to get everything ready before the crowds arrive. I am exhausted before the day begins.

But I wake up ready to go.

We get out in the early sun and we start setting up the show in the field — checking that the show is safely rigged for everyone who will be watching, solving whatever problems we discover along the way. Then the crowd arrives and we have the event. It is a long day. By the end I am running on empty.

And I go to bed that night knowing I held nothing back from my mission that day.

A few weeks ago I had a different kind of morning. I was facing a meeting with someone who was angry about timelines. My team was moving as fast as they could. That didn't matter — someone needed answers and I was the one who had to give them. I woke up that morning prepared to take the heat so my team could continue their work.

I did the right thing that day too. But the whole morning had a different weight to it. Not eagerness. Dread.

Two mornings. Both required effort. Both were going to cost something. The difference wasn't the difficulty. It was what I was carrying into the day.

Paul's message today is simple: wake up, time is running short. He is writing to people who are already believers — not because they are living a bad life, but because they are still running on old fuel. Doing the right things, but from the wrong foundation. He describes it as the end of the night and the beginning of day — and he says the day is coming whether we are ready for it or not.

Most people hear that as a warning. Get it together. Time is running out. Heaven and hell are at stake. That is not entirely wrong. But I don't think it is the main thing Paul is after.

The wasted day he is describing is not the day you sinned. It is the day you held back. The day you lived for yourself when you could have lived for something larger. The day you carried dread into work that was worth giving yourself to. Every day spent in the old life — the self-oriented life — is a day you didn't get to live as yourself. Your real self. The one you were made to be.

That changes the character of the urgency entirely.

Christianity built on fear asks: what do I need to do to stay out of trouble? Those are like my dreaded morning — checking boxes, managing consequences, bracing for what's coming.

Christianity built on mission asks: what was this day given to me for? Those are like my fundraiser morning — tired, maybe, but leaning forward.

Paul's answer to this is to clothe yourself in Christ. Not as armor against punishment, but as the identity of someone who knows what the day is for.

When I go to bed after the fundraiser, I have nothing left. I've given everything to something worth giving it to. That's the good kind of exhaustion.

The urgency is not the problem. The question is what's underneath it. Fear and mission both make you wake up early. Only one of them makes the day worth giving yourself to.

My Response for Today:
Today I will ask: am I approaching this day with dread — or with the urgency of someone who knows what it is for?