Mark 13:32-37 (NIV) 32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Luke 12:35-36, 39-40 (NIV) 35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
One of the most repeated commands of Jesus is to watch, and this watchfulness is really a call to personal spiritual discipline. Watching was once understood as one of the spiritual disciplines. To watch is to develop an alertness that requires a certain kind of vigilance, and that vigilance is found in the spiritual disciplines which help tune us to spiritual realities.
There are many days when it seems that God is like One who has gone on a far journey. It is especially in those times and for those days that Jesus says, watch. Spiritual discipline is the way we watch. It is the way we develop the capacity and sensitivity to see the work of God. It is also the way we begin to attune our soul to sense our responsibilities.
If spiritual discipline is the way we watch, then the thing most likely to undermine our discipline is complacency. Take heed, beware, lest we fall into complacency. Complacency is the sense that God is not around, that He is not only distant from our life, but disinterested in what is going on, or silent, or uncaring, or simply irrelevant. Our words may still be religious in tone, but our actions or our lack of action betray the real belief of our soul. Complacency is that slow subtle way that we fall asleep to truth about God. Take heed…watch. Watch for the thief of complacency that steals away your sensitivity to God and your awareness of His call to your life.
Set your lamps burning, and because the Psalmist say “thy word is a lamp to my feet,” we may understand this to mean read the Bible and read it regularly. To keep the lamp burning means more than study. The command is given more in the spirit of accepting the Word and pondering it in your heart. Maybe it seems like nothing happens when we read the Bible or when we pray, but always something does happen whether we realize it or not.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 30, 1994
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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