Turn off the Lights When Not In Use
Scripture Reference: Mark 14:37-41
Mark 14:37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? 38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words. 40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him. 41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
There are several instances in the bible which record Jesus performing the miracle of making a person whole through having a relationship or relating to him. Have you ever really thought about what it means to make a person whole?
MT 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee WHOLE. And the woman was made WHOLE from that hour.
MT 12:13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored WHOLE, like as the other.
MT 14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly WHOLE.
MT 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made WHOLE from that very hour.
MT 15:31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be WHOLE, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
We can really get a good idea about what being whole is by considering the scheme of an electrical board. When there is a break in the wire (switch off) there is no power flowing through the board. However when that switch is turned on and the circuit is complete (whole) the electrical appliance is truly ready to be used.
This is what Jesus does for us when he performs the miracle of making us whole. He reconnects us to the source so that we may be completely usable.
Some of us may think that we are broken because our lights are not shining so bright but I am here to let you know that it is not because you are broken you are simply not connected or turned off and need to be reconnected turned on again or (made whole).
It is one thing for the light to be off because the switch is turned off but it is truly another thing when the light is not working even when the switch is activated to the on position.
Any two year old could turn a light on with a flick of a switch but it takes a skilled professional to fix a broken circuit board.
In today’s passage of scripture I am comparing the act of being asleep with the state of a light being turned off
Although sleep is very important and necessary it absolutely must be done at the right place and time.
Sleep - A natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended (Word web)
When sleep is performed at an improper time and place it can be detrimental to your health as well as the health of those around you.
For instance when driving a car, cooking, on guard, while operating equipment (you make the list).
During this passage Jesus had asked the disciples to watch for him while he prayed.
However the disciples went to sleep
They realized that he was Jesus and they knew that he would probably forgive them for being disobedient
However there must have been something out there that Jesus wanted them to watch for while he was praying or he never would have asked them to do such a thing.
It must have been vital to the success of the ministry for those men to be obedient in order for the word of God to go forth as it was designed from the beginning of time.
There must have also been something that made the men feel so close to Jesus that they thought that they could disobey him and not even feel guilty about it because they did the same thing over and over again.
This is where many of us are now. Jesus has given us a simple command to execute and we are fully capable of making it happen but something is causing us to disobey
What is it or who is it?
As I think about all of the things that make me disobey Jesus I come up with one thing for sure
I hope he never tells me to just sleep on
When he told the disciple to sleep on he was letting them know that their services were no longer needed
He was saying that they had completely and utterly failed a mission that they were fully capable of performing
This must have really been harmful to these men because in all reality this was the last command that was given by Jesus to them before he was taken away by the mob
These were the last moments spent with Jesus while he was free to roam the earth in the physical form
Either the disciples did not know did not believe or simply did not care that Jesus was about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners (41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.) but surely it had been prophesied to them (Matthew 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,)
There are some things in our lives right now that we do and we know that we are wrong when we do them but we continue to do them. It is either because we do not know, believe or care that Jesus will come back soon
We don’t believe that Jesus means what he says when he teaches that we need to live with certain standards in order to see the kingdom of heaven and be with him and God (Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.)
Some of us have perfectly good and working lights but we have decided not to allow them to be used to give guidance for a desperately needing and lost world
We have decided that it would probably be better to hide our lights under a bushel barrel than allow them to shine in a dark world
So I ask you. If you are not going to use your light to help us in the christian world to reach the lost then go ahead and turn it off. Your misuse of holy power is hurting the rest of who are doing all that we can to continue to push the gospel forward.
CONCLUSION
Just like with his disciples Jesus has asked us to do a very simple task (only you know for sure what that is) several times and it must be that we either don’t hear him or we are ignoring him but something is definitely holding us back from completing the perfect will of God.
We have to shake off the fear, laziness, lack of care or whatever is hindering us so that our lights can shine and draw men to God
Let’s Pray
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane
