Asleep in the Wheel

Our kids’ pet hamster, Rowdy, lives in one of those really fancy cages. In fact, his many-roomed domicile of plastic hardly fits the word cage, which is probably why the manufacturer calls it a habitat. Anyway, this “habitat” has (according to the directions) a couple of different places for the little critter to sleep, including what I can only describe as a basement and a pent­house.

So where does Rowdy like to sleep? In his exercise wheel.

That little bit of irony got me thinking. The writer of Hebrews said that mature Christians are those “who because of practice have their senses trained [exercised, NKJV] to discern good and evil” (5:14). That training comes through several avenues: worship, Bible study, teaching, self-examination. Could it be that some of us are sleeping where we should be exercising?

Sometimes people do actually doze off during a worship service or Bible class. More troublesome are folks who are awake, but are so inattentive they may as well be sleeping. Sometimes you can see looks on their faces that vary from mildly distracted to willfully disinterested. They could be expanding their knowledge, increasing their faith, and strengthening their convictions, but they’re not. Their bodies are present, but their minds are elsewhere. That’s the spiritual equiv­alent of sleeping in the exercise wheel.

Sometimes we overlook great opportunities for spiritual growth because we’re busy and distracted. And so we miss out on a gospel meeting or a special Bible study. We pass up a chance to speak out in a spiritual discussion at the office, or to teach a friend about Jesus. We get an opportunity to build our spiritual muscles, and we let it go by. We’re asleep in the wheel.

If we’re going to be spiritually fit, we have to wake up and exercise our senses. “For this reason it says, ‘Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:14-16).