Friday, April 17, 2026
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11
Stay Awake and Be Ready
In studying Ephesians earlier this week, Paul ells the church in Ephesus to be imitators of God in their daily lives and walk in love. In the passage above he is talking to the Thessalonians about the return of Christ. He is encouraging them on how to live while they wait. He tells them to remember they do not belong to the darkness or night, but they are children of light, children of the day. As children of the light, they should live as children of the light – with faith and readiness for the day the Lord returns.
Paul isn’t talking about literal sleep here or drunkenness. When he speaks of staying awake he is speaking of being spiritually awake or aware of how we are living. He encourages them to be self-controlled and disciplined, protecting themselves with the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation to help them live intentionally, guarded in faith, love, and hope.
This message is for us too because we can get lazy in our day to day lives while we wait for the Lord’s return. We can get distracted and fall asleep while we wait instead of staying awake and self-controlled, and end up caught off guard. What causes us to “sleep” while we wait? The mind-numbing distractions of the world, boredom, taking our eyes off of God and focusing on the wrong things. Maybe in a season of waiting we become weary, and we turn to something else besides God to “lull us to sleep” so we are not thinking about our circumstances. We must be intentional not to fall asleep in distraction or idol worship or anything else that can draw us away from the light.
We sometimes fall asleep because the alternative is too painful – to feel our lives – the pain, betrayal, rejection, consequences, sin, emptiness, loneliness, fear… The sad thing is that when we sleep so we don’t feel all these things we miss the beautiful things too – the love, joy, peace, fulfillment, victories… We were never meant to not feel it. We were meant to feel it all. But there is no way we can bear the weight without the Lord. He carries what we cannot. And when we abide in the light – because we are children of the light – we can rest in that light and draw strength from the light.
We may fall asleep or go numb on the distraction of this world. We may stumble in the fog or become hypnotized by the backward lies of the world that it has more to offer than God can give us. But in the light we can wake up to be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. The armor of faith and love and the helmet of salvation stand against all circumstances we could ever face.
Remember that if you are a child of God you are a child of the light. Abide in the light and stay aware because the Lord will return at a time we do not know. We need to always bone ready and live our lives every day like today is the day. Always wear the armor of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation. Encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ to also “stay awake and self-controlled” and build one another up.
