March 6 - Stay Awake

 Read today’s texts first: Deuteronomy 3,4; Psalm 36; Mark 13

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Like frogs in a simmering kettle, we think we’re lounging in a hot tub but we’re really just neck-deep in “hot water!” From comfort to compromise to comatose! 

Normally I get excited when it’s time to read God’s Word each day, but I must confess - I remember a day when I fell asleep reading these passages, several times! There was a good reason. We had just spent the week looking after our three grandkids and their dog, Sadie Belle. Let’s just say I had renewed appreciation for my parents who raised the six of us (although we were exceptionally good and mature well beyond our years). My grandkids were also exceptionally good, but Sadie was not (still is not) well trained. She did live up to her breed name (a cockapoo), leaving plenty of cucca and poo on every carpet in the house. Where's Cesar Millan when you need him?! 

So when I read the last two words from Mark 13, “stay awake,” I really felt convicted. Spiritually, this is exactly what can happen to any of us at one time or another. We get caught up in the demands of every-day life and forget what and Who we are living for. If we are not alert, we can become like the godless world we live in. Like frogs in a simmering kettle, we may think we are lounging in a hot tub but we soon discover we’re really just neck-deep in “hot water!” From comfort to compromise to comatose!

The readings in both Deuteronomy and Mark carry warnings coupled with prophetic consequences for disobedience: listen to the rules (4:1), observe them carefully (4:6), be careful and watch yourselves closely (4:9), be careful not to forget (4:23), watch out (13:5), be on guard, be alert (13:9,23,33), stay awake (13:35,37)! What was promised in Deuteronomy came true in startling detail; the same will happen for the end times prophecy predicted in Mark 13.

“Lord, I may get tired at times physically, but I can never nod off spiritually. Reading Your Word each day helps me stay alert to possible compromise and keeps me out of hot water!”