7/14/2024
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
I want to speak on the virtue of vigilance this week. In psychology, vigilance refers to the ability to maintain concentrated attention over prolonged periods of time. Spiritual vigilance is the same. In the Bible, vigilance refers to our being actively watchful and alert. It means to stay steadfast in faith and ever aware of our tendency to yield to the ego.
A component of vigilance is that of wakefulness. In general, wakefulness refers to a state of the brain in which it can receive input from the external environment and from the self. In other words, we are conscious and can respond coherently to our physical world.
Vigilance takes wakefulness and extends its time period. Wakefulness is the key that unlocks vigilance. Being awake and aware can enhance our ability to practice other virtues, like mindfulness, attentiveness, and presence. Matthew 26:41 tells us to, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
The Bible calls us to be both wakeful and vigilant. 1 Thessalonians teaches, “So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.” In Luke 21:36, Christ warns his Disciples to prepare for what was coming. “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen…” We are instructed in 1 Corinthians 16:13: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. These verses teach us that wakefulness and vigilance are integral to our spiritual strength and resilience.
Vigilance holds great power in our lives. It keeps us aware of our surroundings, both physically and spiritually. It helps us to notice details that we might otherwise overlook, which can be crucial in many situations. Being fully awake and aware helps us to anticipate and prevent potential problems. By being vigilant, we can identify threats or issues early and take action to prevent them.
So, vigilance acts as a shield, a coat of armor that guards us against harm, whether it is physical danger, spiritual temptation, or emotional distress. When we do face challenges, vigilance builds resilience. It equips us to face challenges head-on, bounce back from setbacks, and emerge stronger.
Wakefulness fosters personal and spiritual growth. Through vigilance, we stay awake to learning, understanding, and wisdom. It helps us cultivate mindfulness, where we are more attentive to our surroundings, our thoughts, and our feelings. This can help us become more aware and alert.
We can develop vigilance by pursuing certain habits and mindsets. Taking time each day to reflect on our actions, decisions, and experiences can help us identify patterns that may need to change, learn from mistakes, and make better choices in the future. We become more vigilant when we do things vigilantly. This is true of prayer. We can make a habit of moving into prayer so that it becomes our first inclination. When we make it a habit to go to God first, it becomes easier to be vigilant over things of the world.
In psychology, they have a term called vigilance decrement. This is where vigilant people start to lose their vigilance; they start to burn out. There can also be spiritual vigilance decrement, where our attention on Spirit begins to wane. This can happen when be become more wakeful and alert to the things of the world than to Christ. We can fall asleep to Spirit yet be fully awake and attentive to the temptations and lure of the world.
Ephesians 5:14 tells us, “…Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Spirit will occasionally give us a ‘wake-up call.’ It is a reminder to turn away for the world and focus on our spiritual nature.
For instance, we do not know how much time we have in these bodies. Every moment we have with our loved ones is precious. Every chance to share love, extend a loving gesture, speak a loving word, hold a loving thought, or serve with love is a fulfillment of Christ’s command and an enlargement of life. It is why Christ came – so that we may have abundant life.
However, we forget at times that to have life – to live – we must be awake. This applies to our physical natures as well as our spiritual natures. Just as we believe that it is irresponsible to spend all our time in bed asleep, instead of working and making a living, is it not equally irresponsible to spend our lives spiritually asleep – snuggled up nice and cozy in our habits, and prejudices, and condemning judgments? We have but a limited amount of time in these bodies to grow and learn and consciously attune ourselves to the Divine One.
Having just had a birthday makes me more aware of how important it is to make good use of the time I have remaining here on earth. Do any of us really know how many heart beats we still have before we are called by Spirit to return home to God?
I don’t mean to frighten anyone; I mean to awaken you. Paul spoke with Timothy in 2 Timothy and implored him to “…stir up the gift of God which is in you,” which means for us to awaken to the Christ within, to all the power and potential that God has placed within us to use and express through our life.
Regardless of our age, we can start a new chapter in our life at any time. We can decide to be open to new opportunities or come up with a reflex, habitual reason to ignore Spirit. We can choose to invigorate our attitude and renew a commitment to live a bold, courageous, joyful, and loving life through the power of Christ, or we can choose to be inanimate, lifeless, and unresponsive.
Choose to be alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic. Psalm 57:8 exclaims: Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
To love demands that we be awake. When we awaken to love, we not only think differently, but we also behold differently; we perceive differently. When we are filled with love, and peace, and joy, there is no room for judgment, evil, darkness, or imperfection.
When we are awake spiritually, we behold perfection. When we awaken to Christ, we do not consider, speak about, or discuss the deficiencies of our self or others. When we look upon humankind and see its divinity, we allow our judgments and thoughts of inadequacy to dissolve. I may not like the current state of humankind’s consciousness, but I can choose to see the perfection in the process of development. We are all perfect in God’s eyes, just developing consciousness at different rates.
It takes practice and vigilance to behold ourselves and others as whole and perfect, but when we do there is a response at the soul level. Our clear vision helps others to awaken to their wholeness. Part of being awake is seeing people in this way. When we are awake in the love of Christ, that love inspires others, encourages them, and stirs up the gift of God that is within them.
Isaiah 60:1-2 gives us this: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.”
Believe those words. The Light of God surrounds us. The Love of God enfolds us… Feel the weight of those words. The Power of God protects us… Know to the depths of our soul that is true. The Presence of God watches over us... Awaken to that insight. Wherever we are, God is; and all is well. There is nothing more freeing to an awakened heart than that realization.
Awake sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
As with all the ideas I share, it is my prayer that we allow Spirit to complete this talk for us as we ponder the thoughts I’ve expressed. Let us awaken to the dialog that Christ wants to have as we bring these ideas and attitudes into our heart. I pray that we allow Christ to awaken us to new revelations.
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