Awake, sleep no more!

On the treadmill this morning I noticed something as I was watching Good Morning America.  The thought hit me that, this isn’t real.

I usually flip between the Today show and GMA when I am working out in the morning. As I watched the polished hosts banter with one another and talk about shoes and wrinkle cream, and Kim Kardashian, my mind went numb. I watched people gathering around the fences outside of Rockefeller Center trying desperately to get a glimpse of  Pitbull, or John Legend, or whoever.  I watched the who’s who of Hollywood on this segment and on that.

Most of these shows celebrate celebrities, dwell on fashion and beauty, and gossip about breakups and Hollywood drama. They deify the successful, the beautiful, and the rich and powerful. 95% of what I see on these morning shows are nonsense. It is a distraction from what is real.

“We have so much stimulation that we’re going numb.  We stumble into the fog . . . . we sleepwalk to a place where nightmares replace dreams”  Beth Moore, Children of the Day 

Television and much of pop culture is a dream world that Satan uses to keep us ‘asleep’. We get sucked in so easily to what we hear and read on TV, on the web, or on social media. They tell us what should be important to us and how we should live our lives.

Satan wants to keep us in a dream like state; keep us distracted.  When we are mesmerized with this world, we are useless to God.

You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.  1 Thessalonians 5:5-6

It makes me think of the ‘capital’ in the movie The Hunger Games. The capital was the place where the rich, privileged people lived in a futuristic world where freedom is lost to the government.  The people in the capital were strange and wore strange clothes and had goofy colored hair.  It was an obvious fantasy world that they lived in.  They weren’t real.

Sadly, generations of young people are brought up with a distorted sense of reality.  And I don’t just mean because the celebrities and supermodels distort the way young girls view their bodies, which they do.  I mean, the whole picture isn’t reality.  What is portrayed is that beauty is very important, looking young is important because older people have less value, celebrities are more important than the rest of us, and pop cultures should be our way of life.

We have to ask ourselves, ‘is this real’?  We have to teach our kids to constantly ask themselves, ‘is this real’?  And, the only way to answer that question is to check it against the Word of God.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  Ephesians 5:17

Is beauty important?

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:30

Do older people have less value?

Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?  Job 12:12

Are celebrities more important than the rest of us?

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28

Should we adopt pop culture as a way of life?

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.   Romans 12:2

Ask God to show you what is real.

I would define real as anything that is eternal or has eternal impact.  God is REAL, His Word is REAL, and His creation is REAL. God sending His only Son die for us  . . . . that’s REAL!

” . . . Then, something wakes us up. . . . and we are . . . Awake to the activity of God around us; awake to His Word on the surface of the page; awake to the lightning before we hear the thunder; awake to our present season; awake to our people; awake even to our pain lest it end up meaning nothing.”  Beth Moore, Children of the Day

Fighting for lasting marriages, struggling to find purpose in life, raising kids to know Jesus, loving our neighbors, worshiping the Creator, thirsting for God’s Word, feeding the poor, walking in loneliness, searching for belonging, and experiencing suffering.  This is what is REAL in this life!  Matters of the soul are real. Dealing with big questions about serious and sometimes dark subjects are real.

“Our faithful God won’t leave in endless hibernation those of us who still show a pulse for Him.  He seeks to break into our awareness and restore our vision.  God can use a fresh dream to wake us up.”  Beth Moore, Children of the Day

So, let us awake! Be asleep no more!  Let every eye open and every ear eagerly await the word of the Lord, for He is good!

A good scripture to study on this subject is Ephesians 5:6-18

6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.