“Awake, O Sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you” says Ephesians 5:14. I love this verse. The imagery is powerful. And the crazy thing is, this verse is true. I’ve experienced it, and I hope every one of you will experience it too. But the first step is clear, we need to wake up.
Wake Up
I’m going to do something ironic here and show how we need to wake up by using a dream I had once. In this dream a giant flying whale dropped all this green goo on my friends. For some reason this giant flying whale was of no concern in this dream. The real problem was that we were supposed to be setting up a stage for a popular band to come play on. We had to hurry, but this goo made all of them lethargic.
I watched them lay around doing nothing, as I continued setting up the stage. We were way behind schedule, but I wasn’t concerned. Then another friend showed up. He was shocked at their state and even more so shocked at me for not seeming to care. I shrugged and continued on. That was when he found a small glob of goop on me. The moment he tore it off of me it seemed as if my eyes were opened. I saw my friends and recognized for the first time that the goop was draining the life out of them.
We quickly went to work saving them. All the while, I wondered why I hadn’t noticed their dire need before.
O Sleeper, Rise From the Dead
When I woke up, this dream perplexed me for a good while. Then I realized that God was trying to teach me something through this dream. The green goop symbolized sin. Sin kills us. It is a wretched thing that slowly eats away at us, our bodies, and our brains. All the while, it lulls us to sleep and tries to convince us that there’s really no problem. It says, relax, have fun, don’t worry, just enjoy this pleasure. And then you wake up the next morning and you feel as if your soul had just turned black.
You might be thinking “oh come on, it’s not that bad.” And thus, you just proved my point. When we have even just a tiny bit of sin in our lives, we are under the disillusionment of sin. It really is that terrible, but don’t worry, there’s a way out. Jesus died so that you can rise from the death sin is holding you in. If you haven’t yet asked Jesus to free you from the burden of sin, please email me at philip.wilder.author@gmail.com
And Christ Will Shine Upon You
You see, there’s a noble war God wants to equip you to fight. And, it’s a thrilling war. God is doing amazing things all around the world. He’s waking people up to the reality of their sins and then raising them back to life again. God wants to use you to help rescue these people.
If you wake up and rise from the dead, this verse promises that Christ will shine upon you. That means God wants to use you to do amazing things! You should read the book of Acts in the Bible, or you should research what God did through Hudson Taylor, Brother Andrew, Saint Patrick, Bruce Olson, Mary Slessor, George Muller, or William Carey. Now they lived lives of adventure. I want to live like them. They did amazing things for God’s name and helped thousands of people. The world wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for them.
God can equip you to do the same thing. All you need to do is wake up and see the urgency. People are dying around us and you have the news that will save them. How could we not fight for them?
So, will you join me? Please, let me know how I can help.
If you want to know more about this war I’m talking about, check out my blog The Only Noble War
