The text refers...
Illustration
Object:
The text refers to the darkness and drunkenness/addictions of the present age, calling us to get ready for the new day in Jesus Christ. As recently as one year ago the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that while the unemployment rate for white men was 7.4%, for African-American men it was 13.4%. Sexual infidelity is another dark plague of our times: 2006 estimates indicated that 57% of men and 54% of women had admitted to infidelity while in a relationship. And as for drug use nearly 10% of Americans (22.6 million over age 12) are found to be current or former drug users.
The new era that Paul and Advent proclaim, the future orientation for which we are to yearn, will involve putting on Christ (v. 14). We have been promised a future wrapped up in his arms. Martin Luther provides a comforting analogy for understanding this image and how it might give us hope for making a difference in our present chaos:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom… it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351)
Already wrapped up in Christ, armed with his goodness and righteousness, a Lord who has taken on himself and as his own (the Cross) all the addictions, infidelity, and poverty of our day, the problems of our era don't stand a chance, and we can start to live with confidence in better days ahead.
The new era that Paul and Advent proclaim, the future orientation for which we are to yearn, will involve putting on Christ (v. 14). We have been promised a future wrapped up in his arms. Martin Luther provides a comforting analogy for understanding this image and how it might give us hope for making a difference in our present chaos:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom… it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351)
Already wrapped up in Christ, armed with his goodness and righteousness, a Lord who has taken on himself and as his own (the Cross) all the addictions, infidelity, and poverty of our day, the problems of our era don't stand a chance, and we can start to live with confidence in better days ahead.
