#DailyDevotion Stay Awake! He Comes Like A Thief In the Night
Matt. 2443You know if the owner of a house had known what time of the night the burglar was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let anyone break into his house. 44You, too, get ready, because the Son of Man is coming when you don’t expect Him.
So, in case you still haven’t figured it out, Jesus can come at almost point in time. The prophecies for his return have already been fulfilled. The apostle Paul most certainly thought it would be during his lifetime. Therefore, as Jesus says, stay awake!
Yes, if you knew when a burglar was coming you’d stay awake so he couldn’t break into your house. Paul talks about it in 1 Thess. 5 “You don’t need anyone to write and tell you exactly when things will happen, my fellow Christians, 2because you know very well the Lord’s day will come just like a thief in the night. 3When people say, “All’s well and safe!” then destruction will come on them suddenly like labor pains on a woman who is going to have a baby, and they will not escape. 4But you, my fellow Christians, are not in the dark that you should let that day take you by surprise like a thief.”
Yes, the Last Day will come upon us suddenly. Everything will be going on as usual. Sure, there may be some severe distress in the world, but that won’t stop people from living their everyday lives. Indeed it may seem as if the worst is over and everyone is saying “All’s well and safe!’ then VROOOM! Destruction will come down upon the earth as a Lord returns.
So stay awake! Because you do not live in the darkness but in the light. Now Jesus is not saying here you should never go to sleep. It’s not that type of sleep he is warning us of. It is spiritual slumber he is warning us. Spiritual sleep is when the sins of the world and of your own no longer bother you. When the acts of the flesh you accept a good you are fastly falling asleep under the devil’s spell.
St. Paul continues, 6“Let us not sleep, then, like the others, but be awake and sober. 7People sleep at night and get drunk at night. 8But let us who live in the daylight be sober and put on faith and love as a breastplate and the sure hope of salvation as a helmet. 9God didn’t appoint us to be punished by His anger but to be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ,…” The opposite of sleep is to be sober, that is serious minded, with a calm collected spirit. Being awake is living n the truth of Jesus Christ i.e. he has condemned sin in his flesh and offered salvation to all men freely, yet he will not let go unpunished those who reject his grace and mercy.
To stay awake and be ready is to live repentant lives. We daily and regularly examine our lives against God’s law. We confess where we have fallen short. We look to the cross of Jesus for the means of grace (baptism, absolution, Lord’s Supper) for the forgiveness of those sins. We pray to the Spirit to help us to amend our lives and live lives pleasing to God. We do not accept sin but forgive it for Jesus’ sake.
Heavenly Father, ever give us wakeful spirits that recognize our sins, confess them, look to your Son Jesus Christ for forgiveness and then have you live your life through us that we may not be found surprised or sleeping at Christ return. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.