Stay awake to God’s will in a dark world

Paul says that since the believers no longer belong to the darkness but are children of light, we should stay awake and not slumber: Let us then not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake (1 Thessalonians 5:6). And again, the reasoning is that as children of light, we should not engage in the nighttime activities of darkness. And one of those is sleeping. We are not to be slumbering through this life, unaware of the great realities going on around us—ignorant to God and the call of his gospel and the warning of his judgment. We are children of light. So while the world is asleep to these things, we are to be fully awake during this age: to God, to his plan, to his work in the gospel. Now, the Bible provides a number of illustrations that show us what happens and how, even though we may be saved, we will still lose out in many ways, and we will fail our Lord if we should not remain awake.

One of these is the illustration on the night of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Our Lord, while he was wrestling over the coming cross, asked three of his close disciples, Come and watch and pray for me. And when Jesus returned, he found them sleeping (Matthew 26:43). Could you not watch with me one hour? Jesus asked. Well, likewise, Christians are to be watchful in prayer in light of the significant things taking place in our lifetimes. Are we to be obliviously prayerful—or prayerless, as it were—while the great work of the gospel goes forth today? Should we not be watching and praying for missionaries, for church planters, for churches like ours, for parents trying to raise Christian children in a culture like ours, for our witness? Should we not be praying for the people around us who do not know Christ, and for our courage and our effectiveness in witnessing to them? Should we not be watching and praying while Christian leaders are trying to stand up for truth in a pagan society? And you see, when it comes to watchfulness and prayer, isn’t it true that the evidence today suggests that many Christians are sleeping? One of the hardest things to do is to get Christians to take time out of our busy affairs to pray. While we lament the fact that society is collapsing around us—we see the advances of Satan and evil and unbelief, the mocking of Christ all around us—yet the Christian people are too busy to pray. No, we are too sleepy to pray. According to the Bible, here is what Jesus said: Watch and pray, lest you should fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41).¹

Richard D. Phillips