Category: Abundant Life

Have you ever been asleep on your feet? It’s a dangerous thing. Your body is still moving, but your mind drifts, fades and then you lose awareness of where you are and what you’re doing. Sleep takes over. Most people simply decide to go to bed at that point. But what if you need to stay awake?

I used to work the night shift. I picked up three nights a week at a local distribution warehouse where I pulled orders and loaded pallets for delivery. It wasn’t hard work. They provided all the equipment and clothing to work there. They started you off slowly, trained you well and did their best to ensure you’d be successful working for the company. The hardest part was from midnight to around 3am when my body and mind started demanding sleep.

I noticed a trick that some of the other workers would do to stay awake in those magic hours of the night. They’d talk to one another. Some of them were really good at their jobs, could pace themselves and still make their rate for the night. They wouldn’t get all their work done right away, they’d work for a while and then take five minutes to have a conversation, then continue on. Others would literally run their mouths all night long. They’d shout across the warehouse at each other. They’d yell, cheer or sing loudly. Some would stop and tell each other jokes. The laughter kept things lively in the place.

There’s a quote from the story “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan. The main character Pilgrim and his companion Hopeful are journeying together. This is how it reads.

“Christian and Hopeful, as they journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves, ‘To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse.’ Christian enquired, ‘Brother, where shall we begin?’ And Hopeful answered, ‘Where God began with us.'”(1)

Here, the two decide that in order to stay awake for their journey, they’d have good conversation about what God is doing and has done for them. Following this thought is immensely important in this day where we can so easily ‘fall asleep’. We can fall sleep when we immerse ourselves the world of voices which drown out the voice of God in our lives. We are in danger of drowsing when we pay more attention to the signs of the stock market over the signs of the times. Our heads can nod when we are more concerned with the latest trends over the ancient wisdom.

The Apostle Paul says it this way.

“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6–8 (ESV)

We are tempted to sleep each night when the darkness surrounds us. We turn out the light, we nestle in our beds and trust there is safety in the dark. Without God, there is no safety in the spiritual darkness of the world. We cannot afford to nod off while it envelops us and others.

Notice what else Paul says in this text. See what guards us as we stay awake, gazing into the darkness. Our hearts are protected by our faith and the love of God. Our minds are overseen by the hope of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We will need all three of these; faith, love and hope. Even though in the darkness, where evil and sin run rampant, these virtues seem to be missing.

In the darkness, faith is replaced by either fear or self-sufficiency. Love, the sacrifice of self for others, is replaced with the sacrifice of others for self. And hope, the belief that rescue is coming, sits upon false foundations of human performance instead of the Lord’s provision.

As Christians walk to that celestial city, traversing the world and speaking the name of Jesus to those who will hear, we need companions who’ll remind us of God’s wondrous works and continual faithfulness. We need good Christian conversation which elevates God’s goodness and the joy of our salvation above the murk.

Otherwise we might walk alone, look into the abyss and see the darkness as the solitary thing. We’d be tempted to submit to it, make ourselves comfortable, close our eyes and be consumed.

(1) Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. March 6th Entry.