Wake Up!

As is often the case, the first few minutes of my spiritual reflection time each morning is overshadowed by the feeling of being half asleep. I read scripture, pray, and then wait for the fog to lift.

This morning was no exception. The bed was warm, the morning still, and only the sound of the heating pipes expanding and contracting in the house told me that I was even awake. I pulled myself out of bed, got dressed, and turned on my Mac to look up biblegateway.com for my online Bible. Here's what I read this morning:

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you." (Rev. 3: 1-3)

Like a fisherman sailing on the ocean in the early hours of the morning in thick fog, I peered into this passage not really expecting to suddenly see a battleship message bearing down on my spiritual settledness, interrupting my quiet morning. But there it was: "Wake up!" (v. 2).

I don't know about you, but I have a good life. God has blessed me with so much and that feeling of being loved and cared for by my Creator sometimes make me a little lazy spiritually. I'm like POTUS who knows that Secret Service personnel are caring for my security and so I don't need to worry about spiritual hit squads trying to take me out of the God Game. This too often makes me sluggish and almost half-hearted about my pursuit of godliness. I don't like that about me.

So this morning served as a (ahem) "Wake Up!" call to re-engage with the Spirit and become fully focused on the things in my life that must matter most.

How about you? Are you awake yet?