Articles
Sleeping Through Life
“Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread” (Proverbs 20:13). Sleep is a crucial part of good health. It gives us rest, renews our energy, and allows us to relax. Without it, our body would cease to function properly. We have all felt the effects of lacking sleep. However, the Bible teaches us that we are not to love it. As important as it is, there are problems inherent with oversleeping as well. These problems are largely psychological in nature. Complications with oversleeping include depression, anxiety, and a lack of motivation. Solomon surely knew the dangers of loving sleep.
The New Testament speaks about sleeping as well. However, it is spoken of in a spiritual sense. It is never a referred to as a good thing. When we relax, rest, and let down our guard, we are setting ourselves us for trouble. We may say that it is good for us to have peace -- and it certainly is -- but peace is different from rest. Let us look at some warnings about spiritual sleep, and how we can be sure to avoid falling asleep at the wheel as we navigate through this troublesome life.
One of the most famous example of Christians being spiritually asleep is the church in Sardis mentioned in Revelation 3. “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die...” We see that it is quite possible that an entire church could be sleeping, even the ones that have a reputation of life! The Spirit warned that they were on the verge of death if they would not wake up. Not only that, but they would not be successful if they would not wake up from their spiritual slumber. The Spirit again promised, “If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief...” (Revelation 3:3). What is the condition of the church here? Alert and active, or drowsy and dosing? We must constantly be alert to prevent apostasy.
Another famous example of a servant of God sleeping through his problems is the prophet Jonah. He thought that the best way to avoid facing the commands of God was to hide and lay his head down to sleep away reality. When God sent the tempest, the the captain of the ship woke Jonah up and said, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god” (Jonah 1:6). Don’t we sometimes try to sleep away our problems? We close our eyes and ignore the truth in unrealistic hopes that all our problems will just go away. As Christians, we must be bold and alert to face our troubles and responsibilities head-on.
In Romans 13:11-12, sleep and nighttime is related to a lack of spiritual attentiveness and worldliness. Paul warns us as Christians that we must take what we have been taught about Christ and faithful service and act on it! “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” We all need to wake up and take action. Let us no longer sleepwalk through life. The results will be fatal. Perhaps Peter said it best: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith...” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
