Will we be caught sleeping?
Found,
conked out snoring, heels up and head down,
by the Bridegroom come back?
Oh, sleepers awake!
Oh, Church arise!
Are we dried up dry bones in the Valley or are we filled with the Spirit? [Ezekiel 37]
Have we been lulled to an uneasy rest on our night watch of this world, or are we sitting up, in action, knees bouncing in anticipation and candles burning, in anticipation and preparation?
Are we living like the action is over? Because it is not! Jesus, our Bridegroom, has yet to greet us in the sky. Are we "going into all the world and preaching the gospel?" Are we preparing for Christ's return, mindful of it, even?
The answer for many of us is a regretful "no, not really."
Culture is humming, Satan is singing, crooning an intentional melody, to put the church to sleep and to deceive us as to the importance and urgency of our action, of our wakefulness.
The tune drones on, and we hesitate in our wills and in our walks with Christ. The voices tell us, ever-repeating: "Don't be offensive. Quiet down. Just sit back. Let others have their opinions. Your opinion isn't any better. In fact, it's worse."
Only the return of Christ and the good news of the gospel isn't our opinion. It's a fact and a promise!
Will you come to end of your life, lying on a hospital bed and see with clear-sight how you squandered God's gift and ignored His calling for you? Will we realize with heaving sorrow and regret how many hours we spent on the Internet instead of with the people who matter most to us? Instead of serving? Instead of loving others?
Church, Christian! Wake up and breathe the "exhilarating, wonderful, and terrifying winds of Heaven." Leave the city of destruction in the dust and walk the narrow way.
Will we settle into our neat houses and mowed yards and try not to bother anyone, try to fit in? Will we go quietly to office parties and sit restlessly in cubicles and try "not make a scene" about Christianity? Or will we love our Savior and spread the news? Will we leap into the adventures that God will lead us to, ones that cost? Are we dead inside? Our hope is a living hope! We've been born again.
We are newborns, coming out into the world with new eyes and a new purpose of joy, not fearfully hunkering down and looking gravely at the looming future, at our own looming graves. We look to the horizon with hope and child-like wonder,
anxiously awaiting Christ's return.
"As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept... Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." [Matthew 25]
We fall asleep repeatedly. We are the disciples, slumbering in the garden at the worst time possible.
But Almighty God will wake His church, so often lying dormant in its feeble humanity. He did the same with Israel. The Bridegroom will have His bride.
He showed Ezekiel so many years ago:
"Then he said to me: 'Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off." Therefore prophesy and say to them: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.'" —Ezekiel 37:11 - 14
The Bridegroom can make these dry bones walk again. He will breathe his Spirit-wind into our desert valleys. He will be glorified.
It's not too late for you, for the Western church, to arise and act and anticipate,
yet.
A life spent in slumber is no life at all. Let the dead sleep.
