Be On Your Guard

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Thursday, June 10, 2010

So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:6

When we study Bible prophecy, it should move us. It is not just an academic exercise-it should result in a movement of our hearts. In fact, the teaching of Christ's return is a litmus test of where you are spiritually.

If you are right with God, then hearing that Jesus could come back at any time will motivate you. It will purify you. It will cause you to want to be right with God. And so it should. But if you are not right with God, then hearing about end times events will frighten you. It will alarm you. The person who is not where he or she ought to be spiritually will not be looking forward to the return of Jesus at all.

The Bible gives very specific instructions regarding what people who are living in the last days ought to be doing:

So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:6–8)

There are people today who are asleep in the church-not just physically, but spiritually. They hear the Word of God, they take it in, and they become spiritually lethargic. They become spiritual connoisseurs: Well, that sermon wasn't as good as the other sermon the other day. But I like this other preacher a little bit more. . . . That is not what this is about. These truths should be motivating us to live godly lives.

We need to wake up, to pay attention. The signs of the times are all around us. Jesus Christ is coming back again!