Craig Clouston

Fully Awake

But when they became fully awake, they saw his glory.
Luke 9:32

Slowly, over a period of minutes, if not hours—I can’t honestly tell you which it was—awareness pushed its way to the surface. Understanding began to replace uncertainty. I was in the hospital and had just undergone major surgery, and the only reason I knew that was because that’s what my recovery nurse told me each time I awakened to ask, “Where am I?” Then back to sleep, wake up a while later, and do it all over again until I could finally fend off the weariness and apathy the anesthesia was causing. The same medication that helped me endure surgery conspired to rob me of coherent thought.
Years after the accident I still remember how thick the confusion was, trying to figure out where I was, why I was in this shape—whatever shape this was—and why I couldn’t maintain consciousness for more than a few seconds at a time.
When released from the hospital four days later, I was still suffering from the sluggish behavior brought on by the anesthesia. It was more than a week before I felt fully awake and in control of all my faculties, completely free of the effects of the drugs.

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Scripture describes Peter, James, and John as “very sleepy” and that until they became “fully awake,” they could not see what was taking place. They had not noticed the transfiguration of Jesus, nor had they discovered the presence of Moses and Elijah! It wasn’t until the heaviness of sleep was washed away that events began to register.
What a perfect picture of the veil of deception Satan uses. Until we become fully awake to Jesus Christ, we cannot sense His glory or realize our potential for His kingdom. Satan wants to keep us asleep and constantly seeks to administer anesthesia through temptation. When we give into temptation, we become lethargic and apathetic to the cause of Christ. We must remain vigilant so we do not fall back to sleep, becoming indistinguishable from the world. We have a choice of whether to fight for complete awareness or be content to sleepwalk our way through life.

Prayer

“Awaken me fully, Lord, that I may be set free from the veil of spiritual slumber. Amen.”