Time to Wake Up!

Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash

The sound goes off. It seems way louder than it really is. "What is that noise? Is that a fire alarm? Is it the liberty bell? So irritating! My alarm clock. Seems like I just went to bed. What time is it, anyway? Oh no, I'm going to be late! Can't I just sleep a little longer? Ugh, time to wake up."

Yes, it is time to wake up. There are several things you and I need to wake up to today.

It's time to wake up to the needs of those around us. As it has been often said, people will never care how much we know until they know how much we care.

Now, Christianity is not just about doing good. That was our problem in the first place. None of us were really able to be good enough. We can rev our motor up all we want but we will only spin our tires. We can try to jump the Grand Canyon. Some may leap much further than others but none of us will reach the other side doing so. Some may say, “But I have high standards!” I am sure you do – probably better than most of us, but not high enough to achieve God’s approval. We need God’s redemptive atonement to be placed in right standing with him and he has provided that for us through Jesus Christ.

No, we cannot be saved through our own good works. Through our love toward others, however, God can use us to have an impact on those around us for his glory. Through love, he can use us as witnesses to our communities. If we’ve fallen asleep to the fallenness of  those around us, may the Lord awaken us.

Let’s wake up to the holiness of God. God has not changed; we have. We may have drifted to sleep like Rip Van Winkle only to dream that since we live in a new world with new principles (or no principles) that God has also relinquished his own standards, but not so. He remains the same. His word hasn’t changed nor have his commands.

Let’s wake up to know the lateness of the hour. Did you ever wake up so late that you couldn’t make it to school, work, or an appointment in time? It can be devastating.

So also some have failed to see their own tardiness and to see just exactly how late it now is. This is why the scripture here tells us that “now it is high time to awake out of our sleep.” Your lost loved ones are now closer to the grave than before. America has abandoned the ideals which first made it great and the return of the Lord Jesus and the end of the age has gotten nearer than ever in history. We must wake up.

Let’s wake up to righteousness (see 1 Corinthians 15.34). Jesus said we are the “light of the world,” but if we place a cover over our lamp, no one can see it. He said that we are “the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” Have we lost our ability to reflect his light? Have we lost our ability to affect people with our lives and words? If so, we must wake up to God’s truth and to righteousness.

Let’s wake up to the presence of God. He says; “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

We get up and put on our clothes in the morning as we prepare for the day but have we put on Jesus Christ? Have we put on his armor (Ephesians 6.11-13? As we wake, we need to know that God is here – present. We can do one of two things: We can embrace his presence for our lives today, stepping into the sunshine, or we can roll over and go back to sleep.

Let’s not float back into sub consciousness for “now it is high time to awake out of sleep.”

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Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.  Romans 13.8-14