Morning Journal
I Thessalonians 5:6
“so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”
This verse isn’t referring to actual sleep. We need sleep. The second part of the verse describes it. We are to be alert and sober. It’s spiritual alertness. There is a spiritual world that we need to be aware of and attuned to.
I Corinthians 2:14,15 refers to spiritual people and spiritual things. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.”
Once in Christ, we are to feed our spiritual side. We are to be attuned to spiritual matters. Part is this done by investing in spiritual things. We do this by exercising the spiritual disciplines: prayer, bible reading, fellowship and service.
These habits sharpens our spiritual senses. Hebrew 5:14 says, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” This is how we become alert and not sleep.
What are some examples of these spiritual matters? As we go through our days, we follow the Lord’s guidance. Some areas are clearly spelled out in scripture. We do what it says. Other areas are more about the personal guidance the Lord provides. It usually is in areas that aren’t moral or immoral. But more about how much time we are invest in things. It may be about our hobbies. At times others may need us and we have little time for the hobby. We put our own desires on hold to invest in the needs of others. This is exercising the love of Christ.
Lord, help us to be attuned to You.