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Wake Up, Sleepyhead

Kierkegaard once observed that “the basic human problem is..that all men are bored.” Too many of us live our lives in a constant state of psychic numbness. We are like sleepwalkers who go through life without a conscious awareness of the reality of our existence and the reality of God.

In my message on New Year’s Day, I shared Paul’s response to this problem when he writes, in Colossians 1:16, that in Christ “all things were created; things in heaven and on earth . . . all things were created by Him and for Him.” If we understand this concept that everything in life exists for the sake of Christ, how is it possible that we might be guilty of sleepwalking through life?

You might say, “Oh, if you really know Christ and He is really a part of your life, how could you not be alive and vital?” Well, we don’t have to look any further than Jesus’s own handpicked disciples to see that humanness can take over.

On the night of His arrest in the garden, Jesus told the disciples to be alert and to pray that they would be able to handle whatever life was about to hand them, but the very next words that He speaks to them were, “Why are you sleeping?’ If they could fall asleep at a time like that, don’t think that it is out of the realm of possibility when we too might find ourselves sleeping on the job.

One way that we can be spiritually mature and live in harmony with ourselves and with God is by meditating on Christ. When we meditate, we take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Jesus. Then we receive from Him literally everything we need to run the race, to stay awake, and to face the difficulties, whatever they are.

–Dan Jamison, Pastoral Team {Pastoral Care)