I don’t know about you but in my life, every once in a while, I need a wake-up call. I need a healthy reminder that love is a verb. It’s so easy to slip into a comfortable routine and forget how much more fun it is to live life to the fullest like God calls us to.

For me, the two biggest spiritual wake-up calls I’ve experienced are these guys right here: 

1. The question “What would you be doing differently in your life if Jesus really is who he says he is in the Bible?” 
2. The verse “God purchased you at a high price. Don’t be enslaved by the world.” (1 Cor. 7:23 NLT)  

This question – “What would you be doing differently in your life if Jesus really is who he says he is in the Bible?” – shouldn’t have been a really big deal to someone who’s been a Christian their entire life. My reaction could have been as simple as continuing forward with what I’d already been doing: 

• going to church
• going to Bible study
• praying
• trying my best to love others
• etc. 

But, the more I thought about those things, the more I realized that – for me – those actions were just evidence that my faith was on auto-pilot. I could do those things in my sleep. They were part of my Christian routine. 

Now, I’m not saying that a Christian routine is a bad thing. In fact, I believe it’s a very healthy, essential thing. It offers a solid foundation to anyone who wants to maintain and grow in their faith. However, that routine became “routine.” I stopped putting passion, excitement and ownership into it. Over the years it had become more of a checklist for God than a relationship with God. 

In short, it stopped being THE REASON I was living. 

The second wake-up call just came into my life a couple weeks ago. I had been reading Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth and one of the things he wrote to them hit me like a ton of bricks:

“God purchased you at a high price. Don’t be enslaved by the world.” (1 Cor. 7:23 NLT)

God purchased me, you, all of us at a high price. He determined that we were worth his only son’s life. So why are we still living under the world’s evaluation of our worth? 

• Why are we letting the media convince us that we’re not beautiful, amazing creations when God says we are made in his image? 
• Why are we placing a higher priority on what society thinks about the color of our skin than what God thinks of the color of our skin?
• Why are we letting commercials and targeted ads persuade us that our human value can only be measured by what we’ve done, who we know, or what we can buy?

Why are we letting ourselves become enslaved to the world when God spent all he had to free us? As free people the reality is that we get to live out each day only concerned with what one entity thinks of us: God. So the question becomes, “What do I need to change so that my life is aligned with THAT truth?” 

I don’t know if either of these two concepts are hitting you the way they hit me. Maybe you’re already living each moment like Jesus is who he says he is. And maybe you already live your life as a servant of Christ, rather than of humans. Maybe you have a different question or Bible verse that turned your world upside down and woke up your faith-life. (If so, please share it in the comments below!) 

Or, maybe you have been feeling like you’re sleepwalking through life and need something to wake you up! If that’s the case, email me at Emily@messyworship.com so I can hear where you’re at and pray with you! 

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you so much for these things we call wake-up calls. You encourage us to live a full life with our faith brightly shining and our soul fully conscious of how dearly we are loved. Instead I hide and doubt. I’m sorry. Thank you for loving me anyway and giving me the strength to try again every day! Amen.

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