DAILY DEVOTIONAL – June 24, 2019

“Caffeinated Christians”

Prayer: Our God and Father, You never sleep.  You are the beginning and the end and You fill all things and hold all things together for the sake of Your faithful children.  Help us to remain vigilant and alive toward You as we eagerly await that glorious Day when You come to take us back to Yourself, where we will enjoy eternity, ever awakened in Your light, where there is no more darkness or night.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture – Mark 13:32-37 ESV

Jesus said, “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 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.”

Devotional – “Caffeinated Christians”

A number of years ago when I was pastoring a church plant back in California, I always enjoyed the comments of one particular faithful member.  She always had a way of putting things in a very direct and comedic way, that was often times self-deprecating.   During one Bible Study we somehow got on the topic of going to sleep, and this member said something I think we can all relate to.  She said, “Anytime I try and go to sleep, all of the things I tried to remember throughout the day all of a sudden rush back into my mind…I lay down, and all of a sudden the thought comes, “peanut butter!  We need peanut butter!”  She said, “If I am honest, if I want to fall asleep all I have to do is open my Bible and try to focus for 5 minutes.”

I think she speaks for all of us to some extent doesn’t she?  How is it we can force ourselves to get up early and out of bed to accomplish any number of things on our to-do list, but trying to get out of bed early each day to spend time in the Word or in prayer feels like crawling out of quicksand?  Why is it we so easily prioritize everything in our life, even the inconsequential things, and yet managing to find time to work in even just 30 minutes of a dedicated time of discipleship proves near impossible?  Why do the thoughts of everything in life that don’t have eternal consequences keep us wide awake even when we are exhausted, but praying or reading God’s Word is at times an irresistible lullaby?

Well, the answer is, it is not in our nature to want to pay attention to the things of God.  Having been born in this sinful and rebellious condition toward God, it is our natural tendency to be alive and awake to everything we want, everything we deem important, but asleep toward the good things that God wants for us.  Galatians 5:17 puts it in no uncertain terms in, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not able to do whatever you want.”

In our text today from Mark, Jesus says, “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.  Therefore, stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come — stay awake lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”  Who was Jesus speaking to here?  Was it a general crowd?  Was it a bunch of unbelievers?  Was He speaking to Christians who had drifted away?  No, Scripture says He was addressing His disciples; specifically Peter, James, John and Andrew.  It was to His devoted disciples that Jesus warned, “Stay awake, lest you be found asleep” in the final day of the Lord.

If the disciples had any doubts that they could drift away and be lulled to sleep spiritually, their time together with Jesus during His most trying hours in the Garden of Gethsemane proved Jesus’ words more true than they would like to have thought.  When Jesus went into the garden to pray, He asked the disciples to stay awake and keep watch and keep in prayer with Him.  However, when He returned to them He found them all asleep and said, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus went to pray a second, and a third time, and each time He came back to His disciples, they were asleep.

Like the disciples we share that conflict that Galatians talked about earlier – that conflict between the new creation and new heart God has given us that wants to stay awake toward God, and that old sinful nature that really doesn’t care about God.

So how do we stay awake?  Well, on our own we cannot.  As Jesus said, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  So, if we want to stay awake, we need to stay in the Spirit, in God’s Spirit.   And we do that by staying in His Word regularly, each day.  Being in God’s Word means more than just filling in the checkbox for our devotional each day.  Of course, given the fact that I am speaking to you now in a daily devotional, I am by no means saying that using devotional material is bad…in fact I encourage it!  But neither my words or these devotionals, or any other, can or should replace the time we spend in the Word of God with His book in our hands.  That is where we find the Spirit of God most alive and at work, and that is how the Spirit keeps us awake.

Jesus used a very specific word about discipleship.  He said, “If you are truly my disciples, you will ABIDE in my word.”  The word for abide Jesus used is the word “menow” in Greek.  It literally means to stay put, to remain and to continue.

Our daily discipleship responsibilities such as prayer and time in the Word of God are not things that we do for the sake of doing them, or for the sake of staying “busy” in and for the Lord.  Staying awake is not about staying busy for Jesus, it is about staying close to Jesus; abiding in Him in His Word.

Remember the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus came to visit with them?  Martha went into a frenzy cleaning, organizing, preparing meals and many other things.  In fact, in Luke 10 where we read of this story, it says, “Martha was distracted with much serving…but Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teachings.”  Martha got so frustrated with Mary not helping her in all of her “todos” of being a servant that she went and complained to Jesus saying, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”  ⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better.”  Jesus said, only one thing is needed.  Staying close.

How easy it is to make our life of discipleship about what or how much we do.  How easy it is, even through our volunteer efforts and work in the church, to be lulled to sleep spiritually by getting overly wrapped up in and focused on what we do, even in service to the Lord.  The better thing, the best thing, is doing that which keeps us not busy for the Lord, but close to the Lord.  Those are the things we should do; being intent on staying awake and not letting ourselves fall asleep even in our service to the Lord.

Staying awake is not about staying busy, but staying close to the Lord…and we do that by ABIDING in His Word each day.

May the Holy Spirit who is with us, keep us awake.  May He keep us ever vigilant and ever mindful of the amazing blessing God Has given us in the salvation purchased through the blood of His Son Jesus.

May you be encouraged and inspired by the words of St Paul from Romans 13:11, “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.”

Stay awake my friends, and remember, God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.  Amen.