Asleep at the Wheel

Last year a driver fell fast asleep at the wheel of a self-driving car on the Massachusetts Turnpike. His passenger also had nodded off. An eyewitness who filmed the incident told a reporter, “I did a double-take, looked over and sure enough this guy was just, head between his legs completely asleep.”

That’s how some of us are. We’re asleep and don’t even know we’re asleep. And sometimes the last person to know they’re asleep is the one who’s sleeping. They don’t even realize it.

In the same way, there are Christians today who are spiritually asleep at the wheel instead of walking in the Spirit. They’re lethargic, passive, and even lazy spiritually.

Encyclopaedia Britannica describes sleep this way: “A normal, reversible, recurrent state of reduced responsiveness to external stimulation that is accompanied by complex and predictable changes in physiology.”

The apostle Paul had some words of warning for believers whose spiritual lethargy and laziness made them appear and act as though they had no spiritual lives. He wrote, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11 NLT).

These words may have more relevance to an older believer than a younger believer because when you’re a new Christian, you’re full of energy. You want to do things for God. You want to read the Bible, go to church, and share your faith. You want to change the world.

In contrast, older believers sometimes want to take a spiritual nap. If that describes you then it’s time to wake up. It’s time for you to wake from your state of spiritual sleep.