The other day I was running and listening to a book. I do this a lot — especially since running and reading a book is really difficult. Anyway, this book is one by John Ortberg and I really love the way he pulls things out of the Bible and as I listened, I heard a phrase that I’d never noticed before.
He was reading about the time that Jesus was transfigured on a mountain in front of Peter, James, and John and I heard him say, “When they became fully awake…”
I made a quick mental note, finished my run, and came home to look up the different gospel accounts of the story to see if I had heard correctly. I had. It’s right there in Luke 9.
“Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.” (Luke 9:32 NIV, emphasis mine)
Why aren’t we seeing the glory of God in our generation? Could it be that we’re not fully awake? Have we learned how to sleepwalk through our religious activities? It’s so easy to allow someone else to be brilliantly changed without it really affecting us. That’s exactly what happened here. Peter, James, and John slept through a moment that they couldn’t get back!
[Tweet “Why aren’t we seeing the glory of God in our generation? Could it be that we’re not fully awake?”]I don’t think I’ve ever noticed how often Peter fell asleep, but he did sleep through a couple of pretty important moments. Here he just about missed the one shining moment of Jesus’ life, and later he slept through the time of Jesus’ greatest need in the garden. The man was most definitely not the picture of living fully awake, and I think he learned something valuable from it.
After all, this is the man who went on to write these instructions to believers everywhere:
“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT, emphasis mine)
Living fully awake allows us to see God’s glory. It also allows us to see our enemy’s approach. We’d be wise not to miss either of them.
