By Amber Payne
Romans 13:11-14 (The Message) But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! 

Consider this…

“Get up Alex. It’s time to get dressed for school. Come on, I let you sleep in and now we have to hurry.” I said while trying to pull my son out of bed. That’s no easy task when your child sleeps on the top bunk and is refusing to wake up and climb down the ladder. “Stand up and get your pants on Alex!” I urged in frustration.

“But mom I can’t stand up! My legs are sleepy!” he cried as he dramatically threw himself onto the ground in protest.  I, of course, fell apart laughing at how cute that statement was. Alex, on the other hand, did not find it funny. He was obviously exhausted - a side affect of a 5 year old kindergartener refusing to go to bed the night before. He had wanted just one more moment to play and now he was paying for it with a 6:45 am wake up call! How often do you have “sleepy legs”? That is, how often are you found paying a price after a long night of disobedience?

God, your father, stands in front of you, his sleeping child, trying to give you a spiritual wake up call but you have allowed the enemy of your soul to exhaust you with frivolous works of the flesh. Now, when the hour has come for you to get up and live out your witness, you are caught asleep in your faith. You are unable to move forward in your destiny in Christ because you have “sleepy legs”. Think about it… Paul likens our life in Christ to a race that we run and finish with the aspiration of having “kept the faith”. (2 Timothy 4:7, Philippians 3:14) 

In Hebrews 12:1, Paul instructs us to “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” To run a good race, to be effective in this journey for the kingdom of Christ, it’s time we start living in total obedience and stop being oblivious to God. (Romans 13:11- the Message) 

Wake up! Get Dressed in Christ and Shake off those Sleepy Legs! 

Pray this…
Father God, I am tired of allowing the things of this world to distract me from Your ways. Let me respond to Your wake up call! I know You desire me to live in obedience to You. Help me to be found faithful in You everyday! 

Read this…2 Timothy 4:7, Philippians 3:14, Hebrews 12:1-3

Posted under Devotion