Wake Up! Open Your Eyes!

What’s your spiritual thermostat set on?

Our nineteen year old daughter, Elizabeth, finished her first week as a counselor at a teen camp this past Saturday. If you could outline what a perfect week would be like for a first-time counselor, then she had it: sweet, well-behaved ninth grade girls, the opportunity to lead several girls to the Lord as well as counsel others about assurance of salvation, great weather (for the high desert regions of CA), and precious times of testimony and prayer with these girls. As you can imagine, she is currently on a spiritual high. (It does this mama’s heart good too.) In one week, she grew six inches spiritually-speaking. 😉

Her spiritual joy made me think about our spiritual lives – the highs and lows, how we have dry periods, but there’s also spiritual blindness and the problem of spiritual slumber. Wow! How and why do we go through all these topsy-turvy times in our spiritual lives, and why can’t it be steady and even?

In the past I have rolled my eyes and thought how foolish the disciples were for the stories recorded about them in the Bible…and then I kept “maturing” and realized how I have made many of the same stupid mistakes. Case in point for this subject, when Peter, James, and John were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and just could. not. stay. awake. Jesus asked them to watch and pray for Him (Matthew 26:36-46). This was such a significant event taking place in our Lord’s life, yet they were missing out.

Our eyes may be more closed than we realized. Slumbering means we are inactive. Just like our body does not eat or drink while we sleep, so does the soul when we neglect our God and the Bible. What are we missing out on because of it? Is there something the Lord wants to show us in His Word or somewhere He wants to take us but we are too asleep to hear His guidance? Like those disciples, we may be missing out on what He wants to do in our lives and through our lives (1 Thessalonians 5:5-6). When we go without nourishment physically, our bodies become weak as do our spiritual lives. When we are sleeping, we are helpless and unable to protect ourselves.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Revelations 3:15-16

These verses from Revelation are quite the warning to the church of Laodicea. They are talking about spiritually blind Christians. Sin can be blinding. As long as we have sin in our lives, there will be spiritual blindness in our heart. That is when we become apathetic in our Christian life. We may be occasionally reading our Bible and occasionally praying and occasionally attending church services. We can talk the talk and dress the part, but what does God see when He looks at us? Would it make Him want to vomit?

Maybe we have become spiritually bored with our “playing church” and are no longer finding the joy. If you’re a mom or someone who takes care of kids, then you know when they complain about “being bored” you certainly know how to find them something to do. It usually involves cleaning and is meant to shut up their complaining. We need to make sure we’re not complaining and do what we need to find that spiritual joy again. It may mean cleaning – cleaning up our hearts. Forget about the image we think we need to have for others and worry about what God sees.

Here’s the deal. *If* we really get to know Jesus – the Jesus Who loves you so much that He died for you. The Jesus Who just wants you to call His name and ask Him to forgive you so He can be your Savior. The Jesus Who will continue to forgive and give grace and mercy and will comfort and guide. *If* we get to know THIS Jesus, then the whole hot or cold thing – we won’t have an issue with it. We will choose HOT. We will choose to give our all for the One Who gave His all for us. There will be no half-hearted, luke-warm spiritual lives anymore. We will want to be on FIRE for the Lord.

There is no “steady and even” in our spiritual lives. We should desire to always be growing like my girl did this past week. To be honest, when Elizabeth flew out to the other side of the country after laying around at home for the first few weeks of summer, she was wondering what she had got herself into. She was doubting the decision she felt the Lord had called her to do. She got pushed. Her week was not perfect, but it was exactly what she needed.

We need it too.

We need to push ourselves. Spend more time reading the Bible and talking with God, start serving in a ministry at church that needs more workers, tell your neighbor or the cashier at the store about your Savior, the One you can depend on no matter what trials you might face. (See Seasons of Turmoil: How to Face Trials.)

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if you need to open your eyes to sin in your life or open your eyes to a direction He wants to lead you. Ask the Lord to make you aware of your spiritual condition and help you to grow. Put on the armor of God to help you (Ephesians 6:13-18). Wake up! Open your eyes! Take in and revel in the spiritual joys God gives you and your brothers and sisters in Christ. 💕