Verse: Mark 13:32-37
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Thoughts
Have you ever stayed up late to catch the end of a game, and then fallen asleep on the couch AND MISSED IT! Happens to me a lot. I wake up to the highlights, and I'm like - ARG!!
Jesus uses a similar analogy to describe how we are practicing our faith. He warns us against becoming complacent and lazy. He encourages us to stay alert, be on guard, and to watch! These are pretty powerful words. He clearly wants us to fight off the sleep of living in this world.
It is all too easy to for us to "fall asleep" in our faith. The every day rat race of school, work, relationships, sports, etc. can make our faith fall to the background.
The reality is, though, that we need our faith to be front and center for it to be of any help to us! An asleep faith, is a useless faith. Jesus is encouraging us to stay awake, to have a vibrant, healthy, living faith - so that our faith can really move and shape us and help us.
Prayer
I pray that you would help my faith to stay alert and awake! Show me when I'm letting it slip and fall to the background.