“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11 KJV)
“Know the time” has an interesting effect on us. We don’t “know the time” so that you can manage the time nor manage it better. Though that may be our first instinct. Know the time because you have not made any of it and you only have as much to do with the time’s making as God will allow you in being a part of it’s fulfillment. Someone who “knows the time” knows what surrender is. That Christ working in us might fulfill them to completion.
Think about this for a second, how do you cast off works of darkness? Not your bad works, but real works of darkness? How do you walk in the light making no provision for the flesh? See the next chapter. You have to have a better understanding of judgement. Remember, judgment is the antidote for love. Judging is how you extinguish love. Learning to let God bring the judgement that he will allows you to more effectively cast off works of real darkness and allows you to walk in the light. Walking in the light is more than walking in transparency. Walking in the light is working in a visible spectrum that is invisible to those who don’t trust Jesus. By welcoming the weak in faith and not judging their diet you open doors to a love and a friendship that no one else will give them. Their time may be short, but knowing the time in any other way and hunkering down for the coming judgement isn’t going to help them any in the time that God has given us for fulfillment.
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12 KJV)