A story shared by writer Clare Sheridan, a journalist for the New York World, once interviewed Mussolini, the Italian dictator:

What [she] remembered particularly was Mussolini’s parting advice on what it took to succeed in life. “Above all, keep your heart a desert!” the dictator told her.[1]

I can only presume that Mussolini was sharing what he thought were words of wisdom.  But how wise is it to consider one’s heart a barren place where the scarcest of resources are available; where it’s difficult to support life, but is often understood as a place of struggle, a place difficult to live in because people often face intense heat, little water, scarce food, and isolation.  And if we are to take Mussolini at his word, then we must admit that there is nothing meek about his wisdom.  It is the exact opposite.  It is both assertive and overbearing, seeking to care for no one’s heart but his own.  It is filled with selfish ambition and lacks those gifts and graces necessary to live in harmony with others.

         For a person to awaken to the wisdom and mercy of God, they must acknowledge that wisdom from above is as James states it: first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  If one refuses to accept life and wisdom in the green oasis of God’s grace, then they will remain asleep in the desert, perhaps without so much as a companion to share their eventual misery.

         God’s invitation for us to ‘wake up and stay woke’ is an invitation for us to live within an oasis of community where there is love, mercy, understanding, and the perpetual sharing of God’s love sincerely and unselfishly.  It is the life and wisdom that God calls us to when we wake up to the presence of God among us in Jesus Christ.

• Where have you noticed yourself or others living as if their hearts were in a desert?
• How do you believe your life as an awakened person in Christ may have worked to draw you or them out of the desert into the oasis of Christ’s love?
• When you consider the contrast of the desert and the oasis, how does ‘being led by still waters’ now add meaning to David’s Psalm?

[1] Citation: James R. Mellow, Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences (Perseus, 1994), p. 202

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, thank You for the gift of being awakened by You. Empower me to live within Your wisdom sharing a life of peace, gentleness, reason, mercy and sincere love with others.

         We sometimes sing a song we call “The Black National Anthem”.  Within the lyrics of the song are the words,

      “Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;

      Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee,“

We sometimes miss the point that the world we live in can have an intoxicating effect on us.  We get drawn away into the world by peer pressure, the lust and love of money, the desire for privilege, power, and status.  And sometimes, the intoxicating pull on us by the world’s attraction can draw us away from the God we say we serve.  In our drunken state, we find ourselves becoming numb to the needs of those around us, drowsily moving through life unaware of those around us, singularly focused on whatever is pulling on us in the darkness of our lives, moving through life unprotected.

         But Paul calls upon us to live a sober lifestyle, not being pulled upon by those things that cause us to stray from the places where we first encountered God.  Paul insists that we shield ourselves from those worldly attractions by protecting our hearts of love with the breastplate of faith and using our hope of salvation as a helmet of protection to keep from being brainwashed by the world.  In a drunken state, it might be difficult to remember which is which.  But if we remain awake and sober, awake and ‘woke’ to the needs of our spirits as well as the needs of those around us, then, our salvation becomes a priority.  That’s when the love of Christ and what God’s done for us through him becomes our top priority, not just for our benefit, but also that we might pay our continual debt of love to our God and to those around us.

• What are some of the things in the world that you observe that make people drunk with the wine of the world and forget God?
• In what circumstances have you noticed people change once they’ve put on the breastplate of faith and the hope of salvation as a helmet of protection from the drunkenness of the world?
• How does this remind you to clothe yourself in Christ.

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious Christ, strengthen me by the power of Your spirit to remain sober and awake that I might live to receive Your promised salvation through Jesus Christ.

         Sleep is a necessary requirement for our physical health.  It allows our bodies time to recover and recharge themselves for the next day’s journey.  But physical sleep is much different from spiritual sleep.  People who find themselves asleep spiritually are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually unaware of the needs of people around them.  And even more serious is their lack of awareness of God calling out to them, inviting them to wake up and answer the call to care for people, to love people, and to serve God by serving one another in love.  Nothing is quite as shocking as being awakened by the light of Christ shining in our lives.

         I’m sure we’ve all experienced at some point being rudely awakened by someone turning on a light when we’ve been lying in the darkness.  But for those who live in spiritual darkness there are actions that people do in the darkness believing that their deeds will never come to the light of day.  And it is true, especially for those of us who have come from the darkness into the light of Christ.  We’ve done things that we won’t talk about with anyone because we have seen the light of Christ and come to the light of his truth — the truth about us and the darkness we were living in.

         But because the light of Christ has shined on us, we’re now awake.  We’re awake to the deeds of darkness that were stealing our life and we’re now awake to the love of Christ that has shone on us, transforming us into vessels of his light and love.  We’re no longer so numbed by our spiritual sleepiness that we are indifferent to our own pain.  We are now more keenly aware of the pain of those around us.  We’re now awake because the light of Christ has shined on us making us shockingly aware of those around us who need to be awakened by the light of Christ’s love and care.  And because of the light of Christ shining in our lives, our role and goal is to stay ‘woke’ to the opportunities to let the light of Christ shining in our lives give light to others who sleep in darkness and need to be awakened by the love of God in Christ Jesus.

• What was it like to discover that until the light of Christ shined on you that you were sleeping in darkness?
• What was it like for you to be awakened by the light of Christ shining on you?
• How do you allow the light of Christ that illumines you to be a light to others?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving Christ, thank you for waking me up by Your light of truth. Empower me to stay ‘woke’ and allow Your light within me to light the way for others to receive Your love.