While Men Slept

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way” Matthew 13:24-25

As in the parable of Matthew 13:24-30, bad things can happen under the cover of darkness, while we’re asleep. In Scripture, darkness and night are often times of danger, both literally and figuratively. But we aren’t warned by God of dangers because He wants us to despair, but because He wants us to trust Him and be watchful.

“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” 1 Corinthians 5:4-6

Christians are surrounded by the world, but they are not of the world nor are they “of the night or of darkness.” And we must not sleep spiritually like so many people do, not paying attention to the spiritual dangers and temptations and sinful ways that are in the world. Spiritual sleep is a dullness and insensitivity to the darkness (sin) around us. It closes our spiritual eyes to evil and is deadly.

 Spiritual sleep allows error to creep in. “…but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away” (Mt 13:25). Error is not planted while we are looking. It will be when we are distracted, weak, or uncaring about truth. We will then eventually wake up to find darkness (sin) in our lives and in the church.

Spiritual sleep opens doors of temptation. “And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy” (Mt 26:43). A long, hard day had tired the disciples’ bodies and consequently had dulled their spiritual perception of what was really going on. Jesus had to say to them, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Mt 26:41). How many times have we not “felt like” doing something spiritual and failed to realize we were vulnerable to temptation at that time?

Romans 13:12 encourages us to see that the “…night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” This is NOT the time for any of us to sleep. We must, “Awake to righteousness” (1 Co 15:34) – and stay awake. Stay in God’s word. Stay sensitive to sin. Stay opposed to false teaching. The darkness is here. Bad things happen when we sleep.   dd