WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!

By nature, I’m not an early riser.  In fact, I’ve often said, “Getting up in the morning is the hardest thing I do all day.”  The only thing better than hitting the snooze is not having to set the alarm at all.

Perhaps that’s why this challenge from Ephesians 5 has captured my attention:

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14

In the opening verses of chapter 5, the Apostle Paul has been welcoming us into holiness— inviting us to live upright lives that reflect the richness of Jesus’ love for us.  He contrasts walking in darkness with walking in light. He calls believers to live as “children of light,” embracing what is good, righteous, and true. And then He sounds the alarm clock for sleepy-headed Christians:

“Wake up, sleeper…”

In a world full of casual faith and comfortable compromise, that’s a necessary alarm!  We too easily grow spiritually drowsy. Our eyelids droop.  Our heads nod. We pull up the blankets once more and mumble, “Just five more minutes…” before drifting off again. We end up present but passive, breathing but not burning with the life of Christ.

But Jesus calls His sleepy saints awake. He urges us out of the graveclothes of slumber and into the daylight of Christ. “Rise from the dead,” Paul writes, “and Christ will shine on you.”  That light is our future!  That light is our hope! When we wake up and rise up, we’re invited into the warm, life-giving radiance of Christ Himself. His light awakens, heals, guides, and empowers.

Today, I invite you to hear the Savior’s challenge … to listen for the Spirit’s nudge. Where have you grown sleepy? What habits or attitudes belong to the graveyard? Hear Christ’s voice!  He’s not condemning, but He is calling. Wake up. Rise. Step into the light.  And let Him shine on you.