Ephesians 5:11-14

Do you have a problem getting up in the morning? How many special buttons do you have on your alarm clock or your clock radio to help you sleep just a little bit longer? Well, we as Christians must stay awake spiritually. That’s what Paul tells us in Ephesians verse 14 “Wherefore he says, Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” He wants us to start each day moving from sleep to awareness. Why? Because there’s danger around. Verses 11 and 12, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it’s a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” As we begin in each, we’re walking out into a battlefield and therefore we must be alert.

And so he tells us “wake up” because there’s danger out there. He wants us to go from death to life. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.” When Jesus Christ saved us, He raised us from the dead. He made us alive. We’re like Lazarus. We’ve been raised from the dead. Now He says, change clothes, get rid of those grave clothes and step out and walk in newness of life. Every day is a new beginning for us as we move from sleep to awareness. As we move from death to life and as we move from darkness to light. “Arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Sometimes we have to get up very early in the morning and it’s still dark outside. The darkness he’s talking about is not physical darkness. It is spiritual darkness. We walk in the light of life.

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of life” (John 8:12). So let’s not be a bunch of sleep walkers. Let’s not go through the day half asleep. Let’s have awareness, let’s have life, let’s have light. Every day is a new opportunity for a new beginning as we walk with the Lord. There’s danger around. There’s victory to be won. Let’s wake up and walk with Him.