Wakefulness
The sermon this morning was on Matthew 24:36-44. It’s hard for me to lay out my pastor’s sermons in outline form because that’s not how he preaches. He meanders. It’s more like he’s having a conversation with someone than teaching.
The central idea, though, was wakefulness. The Christian life is not about hyper-spirituality. Two men will be in the field, and one will be taken. Two women will be grinding at the mill, and one will be taken. We are called to live “normal” lives, but to be expectant and awake instead of slumbering as we do so.
The difference isn’t literal, of course. My pastor didn’t phrase it this way, but I think it doesn’t misrepresent what he said: Wakefulness means being alert to spiritual reality. I “sleep” a great deal, so I can more easily describe this idea in the negative.
My greatest passion is increasing my quality of life. I eat at restaurants, drink beer and coffee, go to shows and movies, build friendships, take the bus, shop for clothes, shower in the morning, and everything else almost purely to distract myself from loneliness, insecurity, meaninglessness, and boredom. That might sound like an overly dramatic way to put it, but I think it’s accurate. I do such a good job that it’s long since ceased to require conscious effort.
I’m largely asleep to the reality that according to God, I don’t have to be a hamster on a wheel. I don’t have to labor and scrape out a flimsy reason for living. I could rest and be satisfied in Christ, who loves his church like a groom loves his bride, who from eternity calls my name to be a part of his family, who causes me, as the Psalmist puts it, to lie down in green pastures.
The one remarkable thing I’ve gotten from the systematic theology study I’ve been attending on Thursdays is an improved definition of sin. I said an entry or two ago that I’ve long equated love and altruism. The corollary was that to me, the essence of sin was selfishness. Now I see that really it’s idolatry. That is: seeking satisfaction or identity in anything but God.