What Happens After 9 p.m.

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. – 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6

I am not a night person. There is nothing about being up late that I enjoy. My brain gets foggy, my eyes start drooping, and I just can’t function the next morning. But there’s more to an early bedtime than getting in my beauty sleep. I’ve found that nothing good happens after 9:00 p.m.

Have you ever been out partying late at night? As the night wears on, your senses become dulled. You lose your sense of judgment. And you might do something you’ll regret in the light of morning. Solomon warns us, “Do not carouse with drunkards or feast with gluttons, for they are on their way to poverty” (Proverbs 23:20-21). The kind of drunken partying that goes on long into the night isn’t godly. You’re not doing anything in those situations that you’ll be proud of later, or that will show the people around you that you’re following Christ. We’re called to something higher, to give the world a different example of how to live. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,” says Paul, “but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to known God’s will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

If you’re the night owl who never stops partying until dawn, God offers you a different path. God offers you a second chance. When Jesus lived among us on earth, He hung out with sinners. His friends were tax collectors – the most despised, dishonest guys around – and prostitutes. They were people who didn’t deserve His grace, the religious leaders said. Jesus “came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10), and that includes you and me.

Prayer: Time is running out. Help me to make the most of my time while I’m here on this earth so when you returi will not shrink back from shame. Amen.