Journal Entry

Awake Thou That Sleepest!

Life is but a vapor and there is but a millisecond of difference between experiencing it asleep or awake. There is but a fine line between the realms of darkness and of light. Crossing from one to another requires an adjustment of perception to find your barrings while adjusting your eyes as they adapt to the influx of new sensory information. I had this experience  when I was born again in the Spirit (John 3:5-7), reemerging as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and desiring the sincere milk of the Word in order to grow as a new born baby would (2 Peter 2:2).

After trusting Christ as my Savior and spending much time alone with Him in prayer and the Word of God, I soon began to realize that everything the world had taught me up until that point was a lie. The more I studied, the more the Lord showed me. And the more He showed me, the more I wanted to share with everyone in my life! I thought they would be as excited and fascinated as I was to learn the truth! But rather, a strange trend began to appear--most people in my life vehemently rejected Bible truths because they are diametrically opposed the world's most popular narratives. Few and far between were willing to explore anything outside the box of their mind, let alone question how their box was formed in the first place.

As Matthew 7:14 says, it's "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Meanwhile, "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." (Matt 7:13)

It all seemed so counter-intuitive to me until I recalled my grandfather who passed away last year with dementia. Months before he died, he had to have both his legs amputated. But each night, as he slept, he would forget that he lost his legs and was no longer able walk. Day after day, though he was awake, he remained in a trance-like slumber, believing it would be just another routine day until the moment he would try to get up to use the restroom. 

It was in that moment where his false perception of reality collided with the truth. Then the shock of being legless would play out all over again. Tears would stream down his face as he cried out to whomever was nearby, demanding to know what happened to him and why no one “told“ him the truth. He would deny that anyone had explained it to him prior to his "awakening." Then he would go through the exhausting cycle of grief, exchanging his false perception of reality (that he still had legs) with the truth (his legs had been amputated), and finally, laying down to sleep and starting the process all over again. Fortunately, my grandfather believed and followed Jesus Christ before dementia attacked his vessel, and now I rest in knowing that he is whole again in the presence of our Savior in heaven. 

While every true believer, like my grandfather, will be made whole upon crossover, as long as we each still have our "legs" here on earth, we are called to walk through this broken world as the salt and light of the earth. Why salt and light? 

Let's look at some of the most important applications of each:

Salt is a savory flavoring. It gives taste to the otherwise bland and tasteless. 

Salt cleanses and purifies. The Lord used salt to purge Sodom and Ghomorrah. 

Salt preserves by inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria. 

Salt is essential for life. The sodium inside and outside of our cells control the water balance within the cells. Too much or too little will cause death. 

Light eradicates darkness. There is no darkness in light. 

Light illuminates and establishes vision. A candle in the dark can be seen with the nake eye from up to 30 miles away.

Light produces life-giving energy. Accordingly, Jesus is the light of the world. 

Light travels  670,616,629 miles per an hour. 

Now, let us ask ourselves, are we being the salt and light of the earth? Or are we sleep-walking until our time here is over? Too many Christians have fallen asleep on the job, dreaming of the day when they will wake up in heaven and proclaim "all's well that ends well!" Ultimately, that is the case but in the interim, ignorance of God's Word, including His warnings of Satan's tactics lead to spiritual blind-spots; these are areas our adversary never fails to attack, weakening the church and God's reach through us as a whole. 

I foresee that many will be as doubting Thomas was, not believing the truth until seeing it all come to pass with their own eyes, then probing the scars in Christ's body, just to make sure of what they see. Then, as with my grandfather, will they have to reconcile their false reality with what they see before them. Will they too deny being forewarned over and over again? Oh, if only today's lukewarm church of complacency and slumber would stop tripping over itself while the enemy exponentially slaughters what's left of the flock.

Please close in a prayer with me: 

Dear Lord, open our eyes, quicken us with your Holy Spirit, help us to stand firm in the liberty wherewith you have made us free, that more souls may be won, more treasures may be collected for your Kingdom, more crowns may be earned to cast at your feet. Align our hearts, souls and minds with yours, Jesus, that we may abide in you, and walk even as you walked, taking up our crosses and daily and enduring until the end. Wake us up and give us the faith, courage, boldness and power to touch and heal lepers, cast out demons, and liberate every maniac of Gadera that yearns to be saved and seated in their right minds. Help us turn from our wicked ways that you may hear from heaven and heal our land. Help us come out from amongst this world of idols and keep us separate and clean. Help us trust in you and you alone. We love you, Lord. Blessed be the name of Jesus Christ, the highest. Amen

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