The Sedated Life

I awoke around 4:30 this morning, and it seems God speaks most clearly out of a deep sleep.

I had all these thoughts about life. We buy these beautiful, shiny cars only to have them rust and break down. We save up and buy these homes only to have their foundations crack. We adopt these dogs and cats to cut through the tension of our families, distracting us from truly connecting. We spend millions of dollars to look really good and beautiful, to boost our sex appeal only to grow old and wrinkly. We sit in front of our TVs and computers, hours upon end, to pass the time. Or we define ourselves by what we do, thinking our career gives us worth. We fill our lives with the things that distract, not realizing that we are really sedating ourselves. We have a dozen different IVs inserted to keep us hazy and numb, as to avoid the lurking question we all dread. Don't get me wrong, those sedatives make us free great, even euphoric at times, but they are toxic to our souls because they draw us away from asking the question,

"How do I stand with my Maker?"

I had a friend from my childhood Church, one from the youth group, a Pastor's kid, who took his life on Monday. I have a former co-worker who has continually expressed self-harming and suicidal thoughts and actions for the past few months. They have reminded me of how desperate and hopeless this world can become. I think if you get to a place where you consider taking your own life, the things this world offer no longer cut it. They may have really tried to attain those things that make us satisfied, but God did not deal them that hand. Either way, all our fates are the same. We are all going to die; it’s just a matter of time and whether we rush it.

That does not change the uncertainty that lurks in all our hearts and minds. When all is said in done, and those treasures we worshipped cannot go with us past the grave, what hope do we have? None has lived as they should. None walk this earth without gravely insulting God by adopting a lifestyle of perversion and sin. There is a real punishment for our failure to measure up to God’s standard. So what now? Continue to sedate and numb ourselves or get real and face our God now? Our post-life options are illusion… we will have to take account for how we’ve lived before God. The Gospel of the Kingdom and its reality to transform our depraved lives into new ones is the answer.

The Sedated Life cannot remain intact when collided by the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of the Kingdom exposes those toxic sedatives as the poisons they are. The sedated life is not life but death. Christ come to Earth and crucified then arisen, conquering death and offering life to those who believe in Him and follow Him… That is life. That is my hope. Faith in Christ lived out by the Spirit’s help. It’s time to wake up and join the Kingdom.