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Praying 1 Thessalonians 5.6-8 – Sleep Walking to Death
TEXT – “So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled….” (CSB’17 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8)
DEVOTIONAL – There’s a saying, “sleep walking through life”. It’s not a compliment. Opportunities are missed. Passivity is the attitude. Life is on cruise control. Just like in a car, without active participation, if cruise control never gets turned off, you’ll crash.
When Paul writes, “So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled” (1 Thessalonians 5:6), that is not just sound advice that could be applied to laziness – “Get out of bed, and get to work!” Remember what Paul said before this?
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.” (CSB’17 1 Thessalonians 4:13)
“Sleep” is death, and now living a life of sin is “sleep”. Both sections close with the same affirmation – “encourage one another” (4:18; 5:11). Paul is connecting sleep to death and sin. Our bodies are “sleeping” when we die; and when asleep spiritually we use our bodies to sin without self-control. Being asleep spiritually is being dead spiritually.
Are we spiritually on speed control, mindlessly trying to get to Heaven? If so, we will crash and burn. Are we spiritually sleep walking through life? If so, we are sleep walking to death.
PRAYER – To the One who is eternally awake, the I Am who is eternally alive, the One who exists in an eternal present, wake me up on the last day and wake me up from my sin today! Let me walk in your day light, the light of your awareness, so that on the day when you awake my body on the last day, I will spend eternity awake, aware, and active in your presence.
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