The time is here! Wake up! We are a society obsessed with time. We are quick to tell all of our friends, and anyone else who will listen, how busy we are. If we don't put our schedules in our Daytimers, laptops, phone calendars, or a multitude of other planners, we cannot function.

Paul is telling us and the Romans that we must understand the present time. We need to know what is going on - now! The values in our society are not the values of the Kingdom of God. Life is so short and we are wasting our time with things that don't really matter. Instead we ..."must put on the Lord Jesus Christ." What is he talking about? In my opinion, we should put on His patience, put on His love, put on His purity, put on His humility, and put on His forgiveness. We should not be wasting time trying to gratify our desires, but we should be desiring to gratify others.

It's Advent, the beginning of a new church year, as we prepare the way to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. Paul's message rings clear even 2000 years later - it is time we lived like believers. It's time to stop worrying about our precious calendars because we are spinning our wheels living in the darkness. It's time to start living in the light. As believers we are to be the hands, feet and heart of a baby born in Bethlehem who had very little time before he died for us. Let's quit worrying about checking our calendars and start living as someone who understands the big picture.