Awake

Awake By Catherine Hutton

10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Ephesians 5:10-14

            I spent over an hour today trying to awaken a sleeping teenager. He responded at 6:50am, sounding bright and animated, so I ate breakfast. There was no sound from the bathroom – no shower running or fan whirring so I returned to the scene of the sleeper. He was very much not awake. I exaggerate not one little bit to tell you that it took an hour and eleven minutes to wake that young man!! And on a school day. Of course, there was a list of Very Good Reasons why he hadn’t woken. He’d had a bad day. Then a bad sports practise. A bad sports injury. Then his sleep was bad… and I suspect I probably made the list too, but I was deep into actively not being mad at him so that he got to school okay.

            On the brink of Advent, the call of God to us is one of waking and of receiving the light of Christ. Grumpy teenagers, middle-age brain fog, fatigue, lack of sunshine and the unceasing pummelling of our souls by the news cycles of so many bad things can mean that we are susceptible to sleep walking through the world. We maybe occupy that place where the murky and gloomy things seem like reality, or truth, or life.

Changing States

            “Awake O sleeper” is a call to us to shift from one state to another. We wake up at this call which comes with a promise. It is a call for us to receive light of Christ which will illuminate our entire being. This is a much better promise than the ones I was making to my teenager… a lot less threat and whole lot more hope! Once illumined by the light of Christ, our eyes are given clarity and our minds are sharpened to the things around us. Our desensitisation is deactivated. Our sensitivity to the Spirit and our right responses to the world are reactivated.

            We can’t be ‘a bit awake’ or have ‘a bit of Christ’s light’. If we are pulled into sleep, than that is where our focus and intentions are. Rooted to the mattress with the duvet cocooning us in warm sleepiness (do you have duvets in the States? They are so cosy!) Our answers from this position are unenlightened. Our attitude is closed off to reality. 

Bring the Light

            When God says “Let there be light”, light fully happens. When the light of Christ comes into the world, darkness is driven away. Fully awake, full of light, we are able to fully respond to the things of this world with a Christ-like, Jesus-centred attitude.

            This Advent, I’m taking this call to be fully awake, to the things of the world. To embrace the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit and allow my attitudes to be full-on awake to what God is saying. We are not grumpy teenagers any longer… maybe some of us are prone to brain-fog and tiredness, but we have wisdom too! Wisdom of years of experience and we so know when we are kidding ourselves. “Awake O sleepers!” Move deliberately into the good things of God’s gracious giving — His hand is on the light-switch just waiting for you to stretch yourself awake and open your eyes!

Catherine Hutton 2

Catherine Hutton is a Jesus Follower, wife to Gavin and mum to Joel and Aidan. Ordained in the Methodist Church in Great Britain; currently leading Epsom and Cheam Methodist Churches. Catherine writes discipleship style Bible Studies, and loves to preach, evangelise and innovate for local mission. She is often found exploring tea shops, walking the chihuahua and finding bargains in the charity shops, when not reading.

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6 thoughts on “Awake By Catherine Hutton

  1. Jeana Rayfield says:

    Thank you so much for this post. It is an especially encouraging challenge to me as I finish up a year of chemotherapy next week! I am glad for women who hold the things of the Lord dear to their heart and allow God to inspire others in the journey through the sharing of their wisdom. I want to be alive and awake and let the Holy Spirit guide me each day. Merry Christmas to you!
    Jeana Rayfield

    • Catherine Hutton says:

      Merry Christmas Jeana!
      Praying you have a strong year and know the Lord’s presence throughout. Much love

  2. Catherine Hutton says:

    Hi Becky! Teenagers are so wonderful and so very hard to wake up!!!!!! I think being awake to Jesus is one of the disciplines that can soon slip away from us. I know I go through seasons of being good at it and then not so very. God’s grace keeps reminding me to step up my wakened state! He is unfailingly kind

  3. Lori Altebaumer says:

    Your message is spot-on for me today! At the first of the month, my husband took me on a weekend getaway just to unplug and recharge. One of the decisions I made was that I wanted to develop the consistent habit of arising early in the day. I love early mornings, but getting up had become a challenge due to very poor sleep quality during the nights. But today marks three weeks that I have been getting up at 5am for quiet time with God. And this time has made me more “awake and sensitive” to all that God is doing in and around me. Thanks for encouraging reminder of why this is important.

  4. Becky Antkowiak says:

    So true. I was just reading the bit where Jesus wants to pray and the disciples keep falling asleep. I need to do better about being awake.

    Also, yes, teenagers are the worst to wake. And we do have duvets but I think comforters (which don’t have a removable cover) are more common. Either way, it’s hard to leave the bed! 😁

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