If you’ve ever worked the night shift or stood on guard duty, you know firsthand that the hardest enemy to fight isn’t the cold or even the darkness—it’s the heavy eyelids that tell you, “Nothing is happening, it’s safe to take a nap.”
It’s a simple analogy for today’s post where I make the statement that, “a lot of men are asleep on the watch right now in their own homes”.
You and I wake up each day, we go to work, we come home and eat dinner, scroll away on our phones in the evenings, maybe watch the game and then go to bed, and the next day, we repeat.
Day after day. Month after month. Year after year.
We aren’t necessarily doing anything “bad,” but we aren’t paying sharp attention and actively guarding our lives either. It is like we have drifted off this state of a spiritual dormant comfort. We are literally wide awake and complacent, but on auto-pilot.
Guys, now don’t confuse complacency with being lazy. To clarify, a lazy guy just doesn’t want to exert any effort. But a complacent guy can actually still be working 60 hours a week! But he is comfortable for very different reasons; like his bank account looks good or he likes his daily routine, so he just stops watching for the landmines sitting right in front of him. He stops checking in on his wife’s heart. He stops having important conversations with his son or daughter.
And then he stops praying.
In Matthew 24, Jesus gave all of us a direct command:
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” — Matthew 24:42
Jesus stressed for us to be vigilant and focused. Why? Because Satan loves it when you and I are relaxed. When a man goes on autopilot or he just stops paying attention, the small issues in his family go unnoticed, small compromises in his character get overlooked, and before you know it, disaster strikes.
Do you remember the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25? This is a great example of how the master gave resources to 3 of his servants. Two of them were active and invested and grew what they were given. But one servant took what he had, and instead buried it in the dirt, and sat back. He didn’t waste the money; he just didn’t do anything with it. When the master returned, he called him lazy and wicked for his inactivity.
Guys, God didn’t give you your marriage, your kids, or your talents so you could bury them in some comfortable routine.
Vance Havner once said, “The alternative to self-discipline is disaster.” Staying passive or not present in your own life will lead straight to a disaster you never saw coming.
Guys, I am asking you to wake up.
Your family needs a leader who is awake at the wheel, paying attention to the dangers in life, and actively pursuing God’s best every single day. I want that to be you.
This is my request of you today:
When you come home from work today, the first thing I ask of you is to put away your distraction tonight. Whether that is your phone or something else, tonight, just sit down with your wife or your kids, look them in the eye, and ask them how they are really doing.
Plain and simply I am asking you to wake up, stay alert, switch off auto-pilot, and guard your home.
Until next time, guys…
IMS team
