Sleepy People (December 20, 2015--Bulletin Article)

 

 

"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." (Romans 13:11-14)

    When the apostle Paul warned the Christians in Rome, “The hour has come for you to wake from your slumber…” he was obviously using a figure of speech, since there is nothing inherently wrong with a good night’s sleep. [Indeed, more and more research is connecting good physical health with, at least in part, the body’s need for adequate rest.] No, the sleep about which the apostle Paul wrote was spiritual—a lethargy or somnolence of the intellect and heart—and the awakening we must experience is an awareness of the presence of God and his will for our lives. Most people (although they are physically awake) are spiritually asleep to the presence and activity of God in this world as well as their lives. We need a “shot of caffeine” to open our eyes, a corrective lens to bring our vision to focus on what we otherwise do not see.

    Many of us remember the big-band leader Lawrence Welk and his commercial sponsor “Sominex,” whose product jingle softly intoned, “Take Sominex tonight and sleep; safe and restful sleep, sleep, sleep.” People today, just like those in first-century Rome, like to sleep; not just physically, but spiritually too. People like to be involved, as Paul describes them, in distractions that render them insensitive to God: orgies (unbridled saturation of the senses), drunkenness (intoxication of the senses and mental confusion), sexual immorality and debauchery(sensory over-stimulation leading to increased insensitivity), dissension (a critical spirit marked by increasing discord) and jealousy (an envious focus on the blessings of others). Those who are preoccupied with such things are both blind and insensitive to the presence of God in this world.

    Those who are “awake,” however, are focused on two simple goals: clothing themselves with Jesus and refusing to plan for pleasure (13:14). This involves, first, consciously “wearing” or acting Jesus for the world to see and, secondly, refusing to concentrate or meditate on how we might better gratify or get more pleasure out of life. The truth is, if we will choose to live like Jesus in this world, real pleasure will result! So let’s employ our minds to plan to live like Jesus while no longer giving time to plan for pleasure. This is called waking up!