In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul outlines pretty much everything which has to do with being a Christian: the blessings of salvation, freedom in Christ, the power working in the believer, the call to unity, Christ’s gifts to the church, the purpose of the church, the need to put off the old person and put on the new, the great battle between good and evil, et al. Soon after reminding them that they are to “walk as children of light,” he writes: “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead. And Christ will shine on you.” In light of all he is saying, these are words of exhortation for these Christians to get with it and do what needs to be done in their own lives! Even they tended to be lulled to sleep by the things of life, just as we do today. Paul’s exhortation is as needful for us just as it was for them.
We need to awake to the fact that we are in a full blown war with the forces of evil in which people are dying without Christ!
We need to awake from our attractions to the things of the world and turn our hearts back to God.
We need to awake to the power of the prayers of a righteous person.
We need to awake from some of our traditions and “understand what the will of the Lord is.”
We need to awake to the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our own personal weaknesses.
We need to awake to the power of the gospel of Christ.
We need to awake to our own personal abilities given to us by the Lord and put them to use in the kingdom.
We need to awake to the teachings of the Word and stop being lulled to sleep by the smooth talking of the world.
We need to awake from the satisfaction of our own salvation and open our eyes to the "lostness" of others.
We need to awake to the depth of the love of Christ.
Awake, sleeper. Awake!!
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