May the mumbling commence!
Light always defeats darkness. When the light of Christ shines on our lives, we are called to make some adjustments in our lives. Read from First Thessalonians chapter five:
But because you, my brothers, are not living in darkness the day cannot take you completely by surprise. After all, burglary only takes place at night! You are all sons of light, sons of the day, and none of us belongs to darkness or the night. Let us then never fall into the sleep that stupefies the rest of the world: let us keep awake, with our wits about us. Night is the time for sleep and the time when men get drunk, but we men of the daylight should be alert, with faith and love as our breastplate and the hope of our salvation as our helmet.
For God did not choose us to condemn us, but that we might secure his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. He died for us, so that whether we are "awake" or "asleep" we share his life. So go on cheering and strengthening each other with thoughts like these, as I have no doubt you have been doing. (Verses 4-11)
The final day of the Lord approaches – we know not when, we only know it will surely come. That is why we must remain alert and awake. Help us, O Holy Spirit, to shake off the forgetful sleep of the world that stupefies. Let us permanently put aside any denial we harbor.
What does it mean to stay awake and alert? We need to keep our wits about us. How do we do that? We armor ourselves with faith and love and hope. Our faith and hope and love have foundations in the Lord alone. When we operate with these truths our salvation is sure.
Why do we stay awake? We stay awake for ourselves, yes. But there is a deeper reason to stay awake. We stay awake and alert so that we might wake other people from the stupor that this world has. We stay awake for each other, too. We stay awake to strengthen and cheer one another on.
Let all doubt give in to hope in Christ Jesus – just as darkness always gives way to light
These are the things we gain. What is it that we lose? We lose the many different ways we try to numb our senses and bodies from the truth of the Lord. Drunkenness represents these numbing factors.
It goes far beyond mere alcohol. We may seek to numb ourselves through comfort foods or shopping sprees. We may seek to numb ourselves through fiction or fleeting fame.
Don’t get me wrong. Rest is good. But these numbing agents and many more besides give rest that does not revive. Rest in these things is no rest at all. Their end is only the drive to more and more excess.
Let us rest and hope in the Lord alone.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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