If you are like me, there are times when you just need to check out. Yesterday was like that. For some reason, perhaps it was the cumulative effect of the last several weeks, I was out of it. I did not want to do much of anything. Pretty much vegged out. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens.
At some significant level, I fear those times. I fear they will become more frequent, normal. That scares me.
I also fear that there are more and more people who live vegged out. They do not think for themselves, they accept what the “experts” tell them. They do not stretch or challenge their thinking, they opt continually for entertainment, fiction, movies, TV series.
This afternoon I was reviewing a journal entry from early last year. The passage that started the thought was Matthew 24:42 (here @ Bible Gateway). The phrase in the passage that caught my attention was “be on the alert”. I jotted down several other passages that echoed that imperative.
That caused me to look for other places that word showed up in the text. So I searched in Logos for instances where the Greek word that was translated “be alert” showed up. Here is that list.
The command to be on the alert seems to be a relatively consistent theme in the New Testament. It seems that there are two primary reasons for this consistent exhortation. First, we have a Lord that will return for us, and we are to be alert, looking for His return, being about His business, not, as I was yesterday, vegged out.
Second, we have an enemy who would love nothing more than to take us out. Which will be easier for him if we are, like I was yesterday, vegged out.
It is almost as if the Lord is calling us to stand watch. We are to stand watch over ourselves, our families, our communities, and the Truth.
It is an assignment that I need to take more seriously. What do you see in those passages?
I also fear that there are more and more people who live vegged out. They do not think for themselves, they accept what the “experts” tell them. They do not stretch or challenge their thinking, they opt continually for entertainment, fiction, movies, TV series.
This afternoon I was reviewing a journal entry from early last year. The passage that started the thought was Matthew 24:42 (here @ Bible Gateway). The phrase in the passage that caught my attention was “be on the alert”. I jotted down several other passages that echoed that imperative.
That caused me to look for other places that word showed up in the text. So I searched in Logos for instances where the Greek word that was translated “be alert” showed up. Here is that list.
The command to be on the alert seems to be a relatively consistent theme in the New Testament. It seems that there are two primary reasons for this consistent exhortation. First, we have a Lord that will return for us, and we are to be alert, looking for His return, being about His business, not, as I was yesterday, vegged out.
Second, we have an enemy who would love nothing more than to take us out. Which will be easier for him if we are, like I was yesterday, vegged out.
It is almost as if the Lord is calling us to stand watch. We are to stand watch over ourselves, our families, our communities, and the Truth.
It is an assignment that I need to take more seriously. What do you see in those passages?
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