Stay Awake – Walking In The Light

1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8
6 Therefore, we must not fall asleep like other people, but we must stay awake and be sober.
8 Since we belong to the day, we must be sober. We must put on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Here in 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul is warning believers not to fall asleep as some do. To fall asleep refers to becoming spiritually lazy, falling back into a flesh ruled life instead of a spirit governed life. A spirit governed life is not allowing the old flesh nature to rule you. That would be going back to a life of darkness and not walking in the light of the new life we have been given.

In verse eight he reveals three things you must put on and keep on to stay awake. The first of these three is faith as a breastplate. Simply put, faith is trusting in God, not yourself. Faith is what made us right with God. Colossians 2:6 teaches us as we have received Christ, so walk in Him. We made an initial decision to give our life to Jesus and accept the salvation He offered us, now we need to daily make choices choosing to give up our life for Him, receiving the help He provides to walk according to our new nature within.

Next, he refers to love as a breastplate as well. We need to make the choice daily to walk in the love He has given to us. When we choose to treat others the way we would want to be treated, we choose the way of light instead of darkness. You also need to maintain the hope of your salvation, which means to never lose sight of the Lord’s return. The hope of our salvation is in knowing what is ahead for us when Jesus returns. This hope will help you to keep your focus on our Savior instead of ourselves. Maintain these three key areas for your life and they will help you to stay awake and not fall back into darkness.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas