Press the arrow to listen to a song that lives up to its name: Typical by the band Mute Math. It’s a song that helps my 17 year old son draw closer to Jesus. I hope it will disturb your world today for Christ.

Scripture
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6

Observation
This generation is like a man who has had a large meal of carbohydrates, sipped a hot milk drink and dozes in front of the television. This is an age that Jesus described as one in which everyone has fallen asleep.

We are to be like the man who steps out the door on a cold night and swallows large amounts of frosty oxygen to become alert again. Our mandate it to stay awake.

What makes us sleepy? One simple word: comfort. Ours is the age of comfort, where the average man lives like kings dreamed centuries before. A hot shower, cold milk, warm house, running water, air conditioning, ABS brakes and manicured lawns were something even out of the reach of a Roman Emperor. But what we can’t get at Walmart we can find on Amazon. Life becomes wrapped up in buying and paying off these things.

The comforts are also corrupted. We have so much sex we do not know what love feels like. We have so much chemical stimulant we have forgotten simple joy. We have drunken so much violence that we do not know the sounds of innocence. The world is drifting off to sleep and their yawns are contagious, unless we fight to keep awake.

Paul told us to be alert and self-controlled.  In a picture, he meant for us to live as if the lights are always on. No matter how grey the world becomes, the worst evil happens at night. Paul instructed us to live an exposed life. If we are open with others we will be honest with God. Alert means that we are to be at attention to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, even in our relaxing moments. Self-controlled means not using what is so freely available because we are content with what God has already provided.

Application
In the news this week there has been a report from Burma of 100,000 humans dying in one storm and from China of 50,000 crushed in an earthquake. While that news pushes from the front page to the comic section, I am to become alert.

Prayer
Father, wake me up. Amen.