Stay Awake!
A community of uniquely called, gifted, and placed needy men and women living their lives where they are…
blessing God, loving the lost world and each other and frustrating the hell out of the devil…advances the kingdom of God! It's His idea, not ours! That's a good thing.
And in the midst of this gloriously hard storied living that Papa is calling us up into.....we begin to coast. We disengage and begin to coast. The devil wants you and I to coast. COAST. Cause Our Adversary Scorns Trinity. The devil hates Trinity and hates us loving Trinity so coasting is a viable tool. And so subtly, we coast. And we zone out about who He is and who we are and why we're here. And ultimately we waste our life. May it not be so!
Jesus gave us some words about this in the bible book of Mark chapter 13 verses 32 through 37. "Be on your guard, Be alert. Keep watch!" Jesus has gone away but HE WILL RETURN! HE WILL COME BACK for his little brothers and sisters. So STAY AWAKE!
There is a lot of hell wrapped up in the World Wide Web (Hint, hint! Notice what this thing is called, A WEB!). So these verses in Mark 13 offer us a new WWW to be alert to!
Watch for your Savior to return.
Work on your assigned task.
Wait for Him.
I love this. We don't know when Jesus will return. Be watching for Him, expectant. I love that in verse 34 that the owner of the house (Jesus) tells the person at the door to keep watch. Keep watch for what? For the owner to return. We are all being exhorted to keep watch for the return of the Savior, but there are some that He has specifically posted at the door and told to keep watch, REALLY keep watch. Are you one of those at the door? Lucky you! He asked you!
Notice also in verse 34 that He puts His servants in charge, EACH WITH HIS/HER ASSIGNED TASK. Brilliant. We're all in it! What is your assigned task? Well we know that you're uniquely called and uniquely gifted and uniquely placed. Ask Him what else your assigned task is. Ask Him.
And what are they doing while they watch for Him to return and working on their assigned task? Ahhh yes. God currency. WAITING. So hard. So humbling. So exhilarating. Delicious preparation for reunion.
And so we practice our new WWW. Watch for your Savior today. Work on your assigned task. Wait for Him.
And while we do, new life is being cultivated in us. Thanks be to God.
So, why the picture of Beauty up above?
Because when I think about STAYING AWAKE, she is who I think of. By the power and grace of God this Beauty is daily watching for Jesus to return. Longs for Him to return. She is Working on her assigned task. She is exercising the faith muscles of Waiting for Jesus. It is so stirring to see Him at work in her.
One year ago today, Lea helped me to begin to STAY AWAKE in the area of body stewardship and food addiction. Food has long been a battle of comfort, abuse and unhealthiness in my life. A predictable pleasure with ignored consequences. A year ago this morning, she and I sat in front of a bowl of steel cut oats and fruit and so began a "keeping watch" that has brought significant transformation in body, mind and spirit. I am so deeply thankful.
I want to be AWAKE!
I want to Watch for the Savior to return!
I want to Work on my assigned task!
I want to Wait for Jesus!
Pain and Pleasure. Doubt and Hope. Guts and Glory.
I want Him.
There's more.