Stay Awake

“And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
Mark 13:37 

I am not sure who coined the phrase ‘there are no stupid questions’, because the reality is that there are some stupid questions. I learned that first hand growing up when a teacher I had, in an effort to get more engagement from her classroom, told us that there are no stupid questions and asked us to ask her any questions we had on the topic we were studying. We were all allowed to write down our questions on a sheet of paper, fold them up, and toss them into a hat. Each question drawn received an adequate response. However, when my question came up the response from my teacher was, “Ok, I was wrong, there are some stupid questions,” and then she proceeded to the next question as if mine was never asked. You can imagine how glad I was that we had written down our questions.

And just as there are some stupid questions, the same can be said of certain interpretations of Scripture. For example, consider the passage that we are considering today from Marks Gospel, “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” I recall a conversation on this verse with an individual who explained to me that this verse meant that we were to remain awake physically because if we were asleep and Christ came, we would be left behind (Presumably, he meant heavy sleepers would miss out on Christ’s Second coming since light sleepers, like myself, would awaken at the trumpet sound). He took this claim even further by confirming how he had not slept in the last 2 years so that he would not miss the Lord’s return. He further supported his interpretation from a passage in the very next chapter where Jesus rebukes the disciples for sleeping when they ought to have been praying with him while in the garden.

And as interesting as it may sound, Jesus is not commanding his followers to become purposed insomniacs. Rather, he is commanding them to be vigilant and watchful for the day that he does return. It is because we do not know when Christ is coming and that His word is sure, that we are to be busy about the work that God has called us into. Being woke is not being sensitive to injustices in this world, being woke is living in expectant faithfulness to Jesus. We do not want to be found like those who doubt His return. Nor do we want to be found at his coming living like those who are living lives that are wicked. Because we know that Christ is coming again, we want to live lives that is pleasing to him, preparing ourselves for eternity, and ready for his return. When temptations, doubt, worry, and troubles come your way, do not lose hope and do not be deceived. Do not let anything distract you from fulfilling your task in preaching the gospel and enduring to the end. May he come and find us working for him, and may it be said to each of us ‘well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master’.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

To never miss an article, click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
These articles follow the current Bible Reading plan for Overflow Ministries. If you would like to join the reading plan, simply download the plan here: Overflow Reading Plan

You may follow Overflow Ministries @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/

Question? Comments? Post in the comments or send me an e-mail: OverflowBlog@outlook.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balance

Image
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV) This past weekend (Month even) has been a very busy one. It often happens that when life ramps up, we cut the unimportant things out of our lives in order to accomplish the tasks we identify as most critical. To all my followers, I want to apologize for my having cutting this portion of my life out for a period of time and I will do my best to have more consistency. A years ago, the United States Army deployed a digital "fitness" test to its soldiers and certain respondents received a message that read, "Spiritual fitness may be an area of difficulty. You may lack a sense of meaning and purpose in your life. At times, it is hard for you to make sense of what is happening to you and to others around you. You may not feel connected to something larger than yourself. You may question your
Read more

Satisfaction

Image
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Philippians 4:11b (NIV) This has been a very busy month for me in terms of traveling around. I returned home from Brazil after a long three weeks and, after two days, I now find myself back in a hotel in the great city of Duncan, Oklahoma. Although it is slightly inconvenient to me, in terms of my schedule for studying the word, prayer, and working out to live in a hotel for almost a full month, I have found great comfort in the words from the apostle Paul. A man who has murderous attempts on his life, been imprisoned on multiple occasions, beaten up, shipwrecked three times, and bitten by a snake was able to find a state of contentedness regardless of what situation he was in. Talk about finding complete joy. This is the same joy that the beloved disciple wrote of many times for other believers to embrace. And this is a joy that over the years I have learned to develop and enjoy. That no matter what situation I find
Read more

Light

Image
“And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (ASV) Darkness is not a real thing. Cold is also not a real thing. They are just words that we have made up to define the conditions of an environment or state of existence at a specific period or periods of time. What do I mean then when I say that they are not real things? Well, what I mean is that the darkness that we see (or cannot see because of) is not because it is overwhelming, but because it lacks light. Darkness is the absence of light. When light comes into existence, because light is something real, darkness is expelled. That’s the same with cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat. It is not that it is cold and then at some point it shifts to being hot. It is simply that the heat that exists is too miniscule that it cannot bring warmth to anything. In verse five, we read that God is light, but not a weak source of light
Read more