Keep on Keepin' On for Jesus

Passage:  1 Thessalonians 5:5-7  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.  7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

 

Main Point:  Since we have the light of truth living in us, let us live by that light, watching and being sober for the return of Christ.

·         Command  Watch and be sober.  What do we watch for?  The glorious and sudden appearing of the Lord.  What is sobriety?  The single-minded focus on the things of God.  This is in contrast with sleeping (vs. watching) and drunkenness (vs. sobriety).  The point is that we are to be alert and avoid all that would control us other than the Holy Spirit (not only the spirit of the bottle). 

     One of the big issues of the day is that Christians are getting "sleepy" and "drunken" with the ways of the world, while growing numb and ignorant of the ways of God.  We have gotten so busy experiencing all the world has to offer that we no longer have time for the great things God has to offer.  Our business and labor are for temporary things;  we forget to work and serve eternal things.  We have waited so long on the return of Christ, many have even begun to think it won't happen - or if it does, it won't be in their time.  Such a line of thinking is what leads to sleepiness and drunkenness.  We live in darkness, but light lives in us.  Let us not allow the light to go out on account of frivolous thinking.

Devotional:  A night out on the town.  Many people consider that as a way to "decompress" after a long, hard day's work.  Others are looking for an early night to sleep.  Either way, people are trying to forget the hardships of life.  They can be wearying, for sure. 

      Yet, for those who call themselves "Christians," there is a time for rest that will come.  We must, in the meantime, stay focused.  There is a significant event about to happen which we neither want to miss, nor want others to miss.  It is called the rapture.  Christians are given the responsibility to watch for it.  We are to diligently work for the Lord.  There are too many people He wants to hear the gospel.  It is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe.  We are given the task to tell it to all the world.  We must proclaim it without wearying.  Our rest will come later.  Until the Lord grants us that eternal rest, we must not stop.

Holler for Jesus,

Greg Yount

Check out my blogs:

Just-a-Thot - Devotional thoughts - http://justa-thot.blogspot.com

As I See It - Biblical perspectives on current events - http://asiseeit10.blogspot.com