I sure do hope you enjoyed that rest! Let me tell you, though, before you even get up, while you were indulging in your little sleeping abyss.
All hell has broken loose in the house. Don’t give those disappointed judgment-filled eyes. The father left you in charge! When we needed correction and truth, you were too busy sleeping. Or shopping. Or eating. When we were looking for direction and guidance, all we could hear is the sound of you snoring. So please, save your criticism and critiques. You had the ability to warn us, to show us the way. To train up these children in the way to go. Instead, you hid in your sleep. You had the opportunity to love us back to life, to love us back into the light, but instead you looked us directly in our brown, frightened, and confused eyes, our misguided and neglected eyes, our tormented and overly stimulated eyes, and you chose to roll over and pull the cover over your head in order to escape the guilt. The burden of barring our pain and broken pieces was too heavy, you said. I’m here to tell you today … church, it’s time to wake up.
Definition of “wake up”– an instance of a person waking up or being woken up.
To be roused from sleep; awake; awaken.
To become conscious.
Urban Dictionary—change your ways; to realize; to pay attention and wise up to what’s happening around you. Get engaged and involved.
There are a few different ways we can choose to wake up. We should, however, note that the actual waking up is a gift. We don’t wake ourselves up. That’s a gift of mercy and grace from our Father. What we choose to do with that gift is up to each individual. We can choose to ignore the alarm and hit the snooze button. We can ignore the world’s cry for a Savior and only serve our own plates. We can choose to open our eyes, yet remain in the bed while daydreaming. We can comment on the world’s problems and say how it’s such a sin and a shame. We can point our fingers and gossip but never offer a helping hand. We can choose to curse the day by complaining and ignoring the mere fact our eyes opening is a privilege. Filling our days with constant complaining about what’s wrong and lacking instead of allowing the God within us to tell us creative ways that we can make it better. Or … we can choose to honor our true selves and be a light. We can choose gratefulness and rise each morning with an awareness that each day is an opportunity to serve God and establish His Kingdom on earth.
In Psalms 118:24, the poet talks about the goodness of God. It’s a personal testimony of a person who has had ups and downs in life and begins declaring, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” His eyes, spiritual eyes, have been awakened and he is understanding who God is and how great He was. He has been through some things, had some life experiences, and concluded that sticking with Jesus is the way. We must wake up out of our traditions, our complacency, our stale worship, and our fear. Rejoice and be glad, for God is good and His love and mercy endures forever. He has a new life and a purpose for each one of us, and He desires to awaken the purpose He has placed in each of our hearts in order for His perfect will to be done on all the earth. Wake up! Get engaged! It’s time we begin to function as one body looking to the head, King Jesus.