Scripture Reading: Acts 19-28; Romans 1-8; Proverbs 6-9
Key passage for devotion: Acts 20:7-12
When we lived in Germany, my husband was in the Army and he had the worst work hours in our married life. He would regularly go to training areas far from home and do maneuvers for several weeks at a time. During this field training, he often only got a couple of hours of sleep a night. Then he’d return home and work 12-14 hour days. I remember one Sunday when we left church and the chaplain said, “Michael, I’d love to talk to you about why my sermon put you to sleep today.”
In Acts 20:7-12, we read about a young man named Eutychus, who feel asleep during a long sermon by the Apostle Paul. But he didn’t merely fall asleep, he also fell to his death from the open window where he was sitting. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit restored him to life supernaturally.
It's possible that Eutychus was someone who could honestly say he was “bored to death.” The Apostle Paul was quite long-winded that evening and it was midnight when Eutychus fell. And after that death-defying interruption, Paul kept right on preaching until dawn!
However, I doubt Euthychus' real problem was boredom. It's more likely that he was physically fatigued (like my husband in Germany).
Sometimes I think we Americans are like Euthychus in a spiritual sense--we are being lulled to sleep and are in danger of falling to our spiritual deaths.
It isn't long-winded preaching that's putting us to sleep; it's our lack of Bible knowledge and our familiarity with worldly knowledge; our estrangement from God and our intimacy with the world. We are not awake and alert to the many false messages that surround us on a daily basis. Popular music lyrics, television shows, persuasive celebrities, and biased news reports tell us what to think and slowly lull us to sleep, asleep to the Truth.
It isn't long-winded preaching that's putting us to sleep; it's our lack of Bible knowledge and our familiarity with worldly knowledge; our estrangement from God and our intimacy with the world. We are not awake and alert to the many false messages that surround us on a daily basis. Popular music lyrics, television shows, persuasive celebrities, and biased news reports tell us what to think and slowly lull us to sleep, asleep to the Truth.
Fortunately, we can cure our "sleepiness" with regular, strong doses of God's Word (Romans 12:2,3). It is powerful and effective at dividing fact from fiction, truth from error (Hebrews 4;11), and is authored by a God who can keep us from falling (Jude 24).
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Gail, I cannot believe what a prolific writer you are - and always something interesting. I just read what you wrote about Father Oloffson yesterday. I kind of knew the story but hadn't read it word for word. It goes alone with what you wrote here. We take these things for granted, never doubting that we will always have the printed word before us. I think materialism and busyness are two things that have lulled us to sleep spiritually. I do know that I must keep myself thinking of it everyday. I have always hoped it would become second nature to be in the word, but evidently, it is always going to be a disciplined exercise for me to be in the word daily. Thanks for your good thoughts!
ReplyDeleteVery good article Gail! I agree, many of "us" are spiritually asleep. A dose of the Bible everyday would awaken us to the fullness of the light.
ReplyDeleteBrenda