Sober Up

There is a kind of sober, vigilant, circumspect mindset that the Scripture consistently promotes and calls his people to maintain. Paul rebukes the Corinthians both metaphorically and literally: “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning” (1Cor.15:34). That groggy, kick-back, chill-out attitude, which seems to hold sway in affluent church cultures during peacetime has no place among Christians at any time or in any age.

Christ’s followers must always be alert, cognizant of their spiritual enemies, and on the lookout for those strategic opportunities to advance the kingdom of God, in order to push back those stubborn and insidious “gates of hell” (Mt.16:18). This is why the Bible regularly calls us to sustain a watchful and attentive attitude. Notice how the Holy Spirit exhorts us: “Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1Th.5:6). That particular exhortation is quickly followed by a military analogy that begins by again calling us to “be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (v.8).

We can be certain that whatever works to desensitize our thinking or lulls us into some level of passivity is positively not from God. The Spirit’s influence on your life is always going to lead you to be “preparing your mind for action” and beckon you to be “sober-minded” (1Pt.1:13). So stay focused and alert, ready for whatever God has for you to face today.