In the ministry in which I am now engaged, most everything I do is out of town so I stay in a lot of hotels.  Sometimes I have an early morning responsibility.  I always ask the hotel to give me a wakeup call.  I don’t always trust the hotel, so I also set my alarm on my iPhone.  I figure two alarms will certainly wake me up.

My alarm clock has an option for snooze.  When a wake-up call comes, you can press the button and the alarm will stop, and you can snooze for about 10 more minutes.  It then goes off again.  I personally think this is foolish to have a snooze option.  If you want to sleep for 10 more minutes, why don’t you just set the alarm for 10 minutes later?  If you wake up at a certain time, why would you want to snooze?  A wake-up call is to get up.

Paul was writing to his friends in Rome and said it is “time to wake up” (Romans 13:11).  A lot of things going on in the world and in their lives, and Paul saw them drifting in an unhealthy way.  He gave them a wakeup call, and God’s wake-up call doesn’t have a snooze option!

What does it take to wake us up?  Marie Lord is a 39-year-old English woman.  Recently she started sleepwalking, and she strolled a half-mile through town – straight into the Bristol Channel – at 1:30 am.  All of a sudden the taste of sea salt and the chill of crashing waves woke her up, and she screamed for help.  A hotel worker rushed to her and covered her in blankets until she was transported to a hospital, in the early stages of hypothermia.  But the sea salt and the waves woke her up.

Are there some areas in our life where we need a wakeup call?  I have a friend who recently went to the doctor and had not been practicing good health habits.  He was a good bit overweight.  He was smoking and drinking too much.  The doctor ran a battery of tests and revealed to him the reality of how his poor health was escalating.  He told me, “John Ed, I got a wake-up call from my doctor.  I am going to make some changes.”  I have observed him, and he is making those changes.  He is not on snooze mode – he is wide awake!

Sometimes our habits lead us in the wrong direction.  We are like the frog in the pot of water.  If you put the frog in when the water is cool and slowly heat it, he doesn’t realize  the water is getting hot and will stay in there until the heat kills him.  If the water is hot and you put him in there, he will jump right out.  If he just becomes acclimated to the heat he can slowly die.  He needs a wake-up call!

Habits are like that water.  We can become mesmerized by some intriguing things that are happening.  Slowly and surely we drift into a habit that we know is not good for us.  We need a wake-up call.

Some people take their commitment to the church rather casually.  They become less attentive to attending, praying, giving, and serving.  Is it time to wake up?  God has a plan and purpose for every life.  If we are drifting – time to wake up!  (Tweet this)

A successful business is always sounding a wake-up call about practices that are not consistent with the best that business has to offer.  It is easy to develop bad habits.  The same is true of athletic teams.  It is easy to become lax and sloppy in execution.  If something is not done, disaster and defeat lay down the road.  Wake up!

Wake up!  Don’t hit the snooze!