Let us not be asleep
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping
_While You Were Sleeping, Casting Crowns
I heard this song on the radio the other day and it made me pause, we are asleep. We as Christians have become numb and so caught up in our habits and the temporal time consuming things of now. We have lost sight of what our purpose on this earth is and that is to serve our Almighty Creator, we were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7).
I say this, a lot and I can’t quite comprehend it, but we serve, I serve a beautiful God, whose love and mercy is so abounding, so pure I can’t fathom it. He is uncontainable! The meaning of that is beyond me and for that I am glad. He has been leading me down a path to Him that I don’t understand, and He’s not calling me to He’s calling me to take that step. Have faith in what God has called you to do, He will provide the way.
So recently I have stubbornly caught glimpses of Him and I say stubbornly because He shows me who He is and He shows me what I need to give to Him (nothing short of all of me) and I dig my heels in and make excuses. I excuse my behavior and the sin I allow in my life and compare myself to others; at least I am not as bad as… And still He calls me; I do not want to be a sleep when He comes. James 5:8 says You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Jesus is our bridegroom that we await Matthew 25 talks of the virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come and some were left behind because they were not prepared. Prepare your heart for the Lord, do not wait for tomorrow to answer what God is calling you to do now because you are not promised five minutes from now!
So much of the world is now mixed in with the church; we justify it saying it will bring more to Jesus if we play movies and entertain the people that we have to be a little bit like the world to witness to them, we don’t want to come across as fanatics. We have become a respecter of persons when God is clearly not, He looks to the heart. (Acts 10:34, 1 Samuel 16:7). This song rings true in our churches and in our country; we have become a nation with no room for the King of Kings. In fact we do every thing we can to banish Him completely, we take Him out of our schools (there will be no prayer), we want in God We Trust off our money and monuments, He’s no longer in our courthouses. Any symbol or reminder of Jesus is banned because it might offend someone and we want to please everybody. And as the body of Christ we sit and silently do nothing. We don’t want to rock the boat, let alone get out of it and walk on the water. We are content to not make waves and live our lives as concealed as possible. That is not what God has called us for a light is not hidden in darkness it outshines it, and we are called to be lights (Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hid)!
My prayer is for the nation and for the church that we gain back our boldness that we stand for Christ, …For Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world! 1 John 4:4. My prayer is that we turn from all things of this world and live only for Christ. We are only a few days away from Christmas, let us remember it for what it truly meant. For God so Loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever believeth in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John3:16-21)
