Asleep on Your Feet

I remember a story that Pastor Chuck Smith told about driving around with his wife, Kay, one day in the fall. It was around October, and they noticed that Christmas decorations were up already. So Chuck said, “Look, Honey, Thanksgiving is almost here.”

Kay said, “Thanksgiving? No, Chuck. Those are Christmas decorations, not Thanksgiving decorations.”

“Well, if Christmas is close,” Chuck said, “then Thanksgiving is even closer.”

As we look at end times events, we might say, “Wow, the Antichrist is near.” That’s true. But it also means the return of Jesus Christ is even closer.

So what are we to do in light of the fact that Jesus Christ could come back at any moment? How are we to live?

We find the answer in 1 Thessalonians: “So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation” (5:6–8 NLT).

Instead of walking in the Spirit, it seems as though some people in the church are sleepwalking. They’re not watching for the signs of the times. They have a certain lethargy or passiveness—maybe even laziness—about them. There’s a disconnect between their personal lives and their spiritual lives.

God doesn’t give us the truths of His Word to merely hoard. He gives them to us to share. We are blessed to be a blessing. God wants us to take the truths He has put into our lives and work them through us. And He wants us to share them with others.

So don’t be a spiritual sleepwalker. Wake up, pay attention, and be ready for the Lord’s return.