Wake Up

"Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work - to wake people up."

Catherine Booth

This was my church outfit for Youth Sabbath. I haven't been to a Youth Sabbath in my home church in a year so it was wonderful to be back in the church where I grew up and learned to serve the Lord. The quote above from Catherine Booth reminded me of a skit that they presented at church yesterday about how the Enemy of our souls is hard at work to destroy mankind with his lies. But not only does he seek to destroy mankind at large but his first priority is to steal away the people that belong to Christ and make them his. We are constantly under attack, and our churches are sustaining an ambush attack by the Enemy; it's frightening. In a lot of ways, he is succeeding though. You see it in the very house of God, people singing the "sweet by and by" and "praying until doomsday" and still, spiritually asleep. I've worked with young people for a short while now and one thing I've learned is that waking people up is the most challenging of all tasks as a leader. It's also the most frustrating, the most demanding, the most burdensome. It's easy to stand up on stage, lead the church in prayer, or lead worship, or call the church to a generous offering. But it's VERY hard to rebuke the church, t0 point out our sin, call the church to repentance, and make people feel uncomfortable. We like to cuddle up with our imaginary pillows, throw a blanket over our heads and pretend that everything is okay, while the church is snoring up a storm. And that gets to me. It burdens me to think the prized possession of God, is asleep. It reminds me of that Casting Crowns song "While You Were Sleeping." God help us to wake up and be different. God help us to be unafraid to wake people up. "After all, if you really think about the ultimate fate of this world, what else really matters other than the salvation of the lost?" I'm sorry if this sounded harsh, I just really needed to vent. 

dress: maxx studio via tjmaxx ($10!), shoes: unrestricted via tjmaxx, hat: forever 21, scarf: pier 1 imports, clutch: gifted, pink Bible: family christian bookstores (I love my tiny pink Bible!)