Wake Up!
A game I used to play with my girls when they were younger was pretending that I was asleep…sometimes I’d fall asleep in the middle of a conversation. My obvious fake case of narcolepsy would quickly elicit a screamed “WAKE UP!!!” response from my girls. (I actually still play that game from time to time with Brittany…much to her dismay…anyway…) During a Sunday evening service when Anna Kathryn was about 18 months, right after everyone bowed their heads to pray, AK screamed “WAKE UP!!!!” The sad thing is…there probably were some folks in the room that needed to be woken up…physically and/or spiritually!
Paul is screaming the same message in Ephesians 5:14…”WAKE UP!” Although there is some debate as to whom he is addressing his command…some say believers, some say non-believers, some say both, when I read it recently I felt like God had a message to me. “Wake up Doug Scott and live the life I have created you for…live fully, abundantly, passionately…for Me…with abandon.” Let me be clear…I’m not living in any dark sin that I need to wake up from…but what I feel God is telling me is He wants me to be brighter for Him.
Also, as I’ve prayed and thought about this further, I was reminded of what Alan has said that much of the message in Ephesians is really to the Church. So with that, I guess I agree with Wayne Barber (a contemporary pastor/author) when he says:
To me Paul is saying, “God is saying the word to the church, ‘Wake up! You are sleeping! Death is all around you. Darkness has enveloped you. Wake up. Let Jesus shine on you first and reprove you for the things wrong in your life. Then Jesus can shine through you and we can start seeing darkness dissipate because it is light that puts out the darkness.’”
So with that, when you read Ephesians 5:14…what is Paul saying to you to “Wake up to or from”…what do you think he’s saying to Cumberland? I’m still trying to figure it out myself…and to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever fully figure it out…but it’s pretty cool to feel God shaking me on my shoulder…saying “Wake up Doug…it’s time to get up.”
As I yawn reading your Feed One Another. Just kidding. I am awakened to the fact that I must be alert to the battles that are go around us all the time. When I am sleepy spiritually I am less aware of what God is doing and side swiped by the devil.
I’m a natural sleepy head…it takes me a couple of hours and a pot of coffee to get moving every morning. There are days when the struggles in life make me wish I would have just kept on sleeping. It’s easier that way. It’s not that I don’t know there’s darkness all around, it’s just that I don’t want to deal with it. My prayer is that God will zap me with courage, push me out of my comfort zone, and give me Paul-like boldness.