1 Thessalonians 5:6
So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
"If thou rememberest that thou art going to heaven, thou wilt not sleep on the road. If thou thinkest that hell is behind thee, and the devil pursuing thee, thou wilt not loiter. Would the manslayer sleep with the avenger of blood behind him, and the city of refuge before him?"
-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Christians are commanded to be awake and alert with alacrity. Christians fall asleep when they take their eyes off the prize or forget the dread of where they come from. The manslayer making his way to the city of refuge does not dally or delight himself in anything that takes him off mission. If he dawdles, he dies. If he dallies, he ends up dead. If we are lazy, it is because we have forgotten that we are manslayers and that our only safety is in the refuge of where we're going. That brings us back to the primary focus. The Christian is not merely running away from something, but toward something. It is not merely the fear of what is chasing them, but the beauty of what lies before them that motivates activity, energy, alertness and sobriety. The Christian is obligated to keep a clear picture in his mind of the better country to which he has been called. Its attraction is so captivating when fixated upon that it immediately dulls all counterfeit lures. It exposes the switch in the bait and doesn't bite. Its failings and flattery become so obvious as to prevent the possibility of temptation. When heaven is beheld, half-truths are easy to abandon.
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