Asleep At The Light

Some years ago, my family and I went to Salt Lake City to attend the Southern Baptist Convention. It was interesting to go into the heart of Mormonism to convene with representatives of the largest evangelical denomination in the world. One morning while driving to the convention hall, I sat in very slow moving traffic and figured this was typical Salt Lake City rush hour. As we inched forward, I discovered there was a stalled car at the red light causing the slowdown. I pulled into the lane to the left of the car to ease around it, and at the same time I did so, a man walked up to the window of the stalled car and tapped on the glass. I saw to my surprise that the car was not really stalled. The problem was that the driver of the car had fallen asleep at the light.

 I was thinking about this event the other day as I was reflecting on Revelation 3:1-3: “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” In many cases, the Church may have the reputation of being alive, but spiritually she is really dead. Unfortunately in our world, our indicators of “life” may not be God’s indicators of life. Large numbers of people, excellent music, and exciting children’s programs do not necessarily mean the Church is really spiritually alive. While the Church is asleep, we find ourselves sitting at a “green light.” We are living in a time of incredible opportunities. There has never been a time in the Church’s history where we have a front row seat to the setting of the prophetic stage as we are experiencing today. While no one can say with certainty that the events happening around us are definitely pieces of the prophetic puzzle being fulfilled, we can say that these events definitely have a prophetic ring to it. People are beginning to ask questions and circumstances are causing people to look around for greater solutions than the ones previously tried. The “green light” is the green light of the gospel. God is saying “Go!” as the world is facing greater challenges and encountering immeasurable need. If we do not actively move out and share our faith in loving and convincing ways and if we do not stand firm on the truth of God, choosing daily to walk in obedience to God’s commands, we are simply sleeping in the comfort of our self-deception thinking we are spiritually alive while in truth we are spiritually dead. Are you asleep at the light? Is your church asleep? Wake up!