"Wake-Up Call"

"Wake-Up Call"

By:  Pastor Jack Schneider

“The time is coming when people won’t listen to good teaching. Instead, they will look for teachers who will please them by telling them only what they are itching to hear.  They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories.”  [2 Tim.4:3-4, CEV]

I awakened one morning last week at my usual time. It was still dark and, as I rolled over and sat up to get out of bed, I suddenly had the horrifying feeling I was falling face forward and sure to land sprawled painfully on the floor. Arms and legs flailing wildly, trying to gain my balance and catch myself to break the fall, it seemed an eternity before Carolyn’s voice broke through to me, “Are you okay?”  It was then I realized I was still lying in bed, on my back, with my legs hanging over the edge.  My ears were filled with fluid from sinus pressure and my equilibrium was totally shot -- I couldn’t sit up, stand, roll over or anything without being disoriented. It was a miserable feeling, and it has taken days of corrective measures to get over.

If ever there’s an analogy for satan’s mind-games with us, this is it.  He fills our ears with lies and half-truths until our sense of balance and Godliness is so skewed that up is down and we have no idea where we are in relation to Christ. What was so weird about my physical situation was that I had no clue, no symptoms to alert me when I went to bed the night before; I simply awakened the next morning, completely messed up.  And do you think satan is about to give us any warning signs he’s on the way -- something like an e-mail or a text-message with a 12-hour advance notice, “by the way, I’m going to mess you over tomorrow…have a nice night!”

Nope.  Your day will be just like my wake-up call.  I felt like I was falling from a 20-ft. wall and was scrambling like a turtle on its back. Come to think of it, that’s how helpless I have felt at times in the face of his attacks -- until Someone’s calming voice broke through to remind me where I really was: safe in the hands of my Savior. You see, satan wants us stumbling around blindly, crashing into things, hurting ourselves and others. But when we stop, listen for that still, small voice of the Word and regain our direction in Christ, safety and peace are at hand.

Be careful. Someone will always be happy to fill your ears with junk, if you’ll let them. It’s the times we live in. Earlier in 2 Tim., the apostle wrote;

“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” 

That’s the truth, and the truth won’t make your head spin.

- Jack