Wake-Up Call

If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.

-Mark 13:36, NIV

"We need to read the Bible as a call to action, because that's what so much of it is."

Yes, I'm quoting myself. (Is that allowed?) 

That's from my entry "Back to the Basics." I posted that last Wednesday. And just a couple days later, as I read my Bible, I found myself face-to-face with that reality. 

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14, ESV)

This is exactly the kind of call to action I was talking about.

This is exactly what Jesus calls us to do, how He calls us to live, when we submit our lives to Him. 

This is exactly the kind of way we should live on a daily basis. When we "put on" the Lord, we are walking with Him, living intimately with Him. Christlike actions flow naturally from a close fellowship with the Lord.

But in looking at the call of how to live, let's not overlook the sense of urgency in this passage - because it should also serve as a wake-up call for our lives. 

1 Thessalonians (also written by Paul) has a passage that correlates perfectly with the one from Romans we looked at just a moment ago.

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-8, ESV)

The motifs of sleep, day/light and night/darkness are all present in both passages, as is the command to "put on" Christ.

Jesus has promised to return, and He'll be back sooner rather than later. Just look around us at all the signs that we are living in the latter days.

Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:10-11, ESV)

The passage from Romans tells us that every day we get closer and closer to the day of Christ's return. The moon is on its descent. The Son is on the horizon.

It's important that we stop fooling around and acting like hooligans, hiding behind the excuse that we have plenty of time to get to work. Don't forget the story that Jesus tells in Mark 13.

"Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mark 13:33-36, ESV)

The time to get serious is now. Now is the time for us to get - and remain - vigilant, to live squarely in the light so that we can be beacons that reach into the darkest areas.

But Christians as a whole are asleep. 

We've gotten lax. We've allowed our government over the years to slowly chip away at our Christian foundation. And now we find eroding beneath our feet the society envisioned by our Founding Fathers (one based on Judeo-Christian values), without the momentum to stop it. 

We've allowed society to shake us, and we've compromised our values. What happened to the sanctity of marriage? What happened to the sanctity of life? We've traded our staunch stances against the farce made of marriage when two members of the same sex are wed and the atrocity of killing an unborn child, for campaigns against using too much paper or leaving the lights on too long.

When will we return to our roots in Christ? When will we stand up and live boldly for Him, letting others see His light shining through us?

We as Christians are asleep, and we have been lulled to sleep by a false sense of peace and security that was engineered and executed with the sole purpose of lulling us to sleep.

What will it take to wake us up?

How many earth-shattering rumblings? How many floods? How many fiery volcanic eruptions? How many devastating forest fires? How many wars among nations? How many abominations and blasphemies against Christ and persecutions of the Church before Jesus returns to rescue His people?

Salvation is near. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. 

It's time to wake up, to turn on the light we're going to live in, and to put on Christ. Because if we don't, what will we miss while we are sleeping?