Advent
November 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Romans 13:11-14

Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. –Romans 13:12b-14

Living honorably, what does it mean? Raised with a good dose of honoring my family’s names by my behavior, I am very aware, on a purely human scale, of what it means to conduct myself knowing that what I do, not only reflects on me but also on all the others who share my name. A picture of my mother and father standing in the doorway of the office where I worked looking every bit like Grant Woods American Gothic* is seared in my mind. They received a letter in the mail from the local bank we both used, which told them I wrote a hot check. Never mind that the account was only in my name and the bank did not bother to notify me even though I was an adult. I knew I had not committed the sin of which I was accused and assured my parents I would take care of it. My trip to the bank resulted in discovering that the bank had deposited my paycheck to a closed account that belonged to someone else. I insisted that the bank call the store where the check had bounced and exonerate my good name. They also understood well by the time I left that they should contact me if they had a problem with my account.

Romans is talking about living honorably as representatives of God. I think it is living in such a way that everything we do reflects God in us. Now that is a tough assignment as we jostle routinely with all those little voices enticing us away from being God’s representative in our hearts and our outward behavior. Honoring God requires us to have a good working knowledge of God. The Lord graciously provided us a living example in Jesus Christ. While we lay claim to being followers of Christ, self-examination may illuminate how close we are to being like Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, help me to see myself as others see me. In so doing, show me how I can better represent you in my relationships with all. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.