Wake up . . .

How would you characterize the church at large?  It would appear that the church, for the most part, has been lulled to sleep. There has been a numbing effect as the church is desensitized to evil. Things that were once viewed as unacceptable are cozied up to and embraced without as much as a hint of shame or suspicion being aroused among believers. Worldly practices, ungodly activities, inappropriate language and the like are becoming commonplace with the eyes of the church closed to the personal consequences. In addition, the testimony ecclesially (of the church) and societally (among those outside the church) that is being left has been greatly dulled, to the extent of being virtually unnoticeable. No one is even aware that we are Christians as there is no real indication that we are alive in Christ and awakened to the realities of sin and sin’s dark, destructive ends.

With all that has been said, our Lord Jesus Christ sounds the alarm to His church by declaring, “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying" (Romans 13:11,13). Furthermore, Christ’s concern for the lethargy of HIs church is heard in His address in Ephesians 5:14 when He says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Get up and separate yourselves to the Savior’s cause. Then Christ alerts us to the fact that the church needs to 'snap out of it’ and "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34).