11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let’s behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
This is an incredibly powerful admonition to us from the Apostle Paul to live as though Christ will return at any moment. Paul makes several parallels between the desires of the body and the darkness of night, and compares living in obedience to Christ with living in the full light of day. He also in the first verse tells us to 'awaken from sleep'; as someone who has battled addiction during my life I think this is a very apt description of the 'vices' that so many of us struggle with.
Some of us use behaviors and substances compulsively and addictively to cover up and numb feelings that we can't cope with. Process addictions like gambling and sex and porn addiction create chemical changes in our brains that alter or numb our feelings, and substance addictions do the same thing though we administer the chemical directly rather than using behavior to alter our mental state.
Paul is warning us that we need to live as if Christ's return is imminent, and that there is no more time left for following what he calls "the flesh in regard to its lusts". While some people scoff at Christianity now being two thousand years old, all one has to so is look at the lunatic proliferation of online pornography (for one example) over the last fifteen years to understand why in the last days humans will struggle so hard to find righteousness of any kind.
Because of our exposure to the internet, we are besieged with manipulative and distracting stimuli of all kinds many of our waking hours. When we compare this to the lives of our ancestors throughout human history it becomes clear why modern humans have to fight all the much harder to keep our focus on spiritual things and on obedience to Christ's teachings in the Gospels.
If you want to accept Salvation from Christ here are some resources:
A Prayer for Salvation from Christ:
Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer.
A more detailed step by step process:
https://www.wikihow.com/Accept-Jesus-Into-Your-Life
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