The Snooze Button

Every morning I hear the same thing:  beeping, rustling of covers, the click of the snooze button, and precisely eight minutes later repeat.  It's not just one person who has fallen for the infernal snooze button, but both of my sons.  After this charade in stereo persisted for over half an hour, I walked to the hallway which connected both rooms.  I welcomed those young men into the day with a question:  "What is the purpose of your alarm clock?"  "To wake us up," one of the youths mumbled.  "If it wakes you up, why don't you get up?  Why not set the alarm for half an hour later and enjoy more unbroken sleep?  Do me and yourselves a favour.  Good morning!"  The complimentary and happy dad-dispensary of wisdom was open for business.

Now if you are one of those who love your snooze button almost as much as life itself, please do not take offense.  I have lived with people who had the bizarre obsession to press that button for over an hour every morning, and hearing the blaring tone every eight minutes became an offense to me!  But the LORD showed me a wondrous truth about this "rise and shine procrastinator," this snooze button which is the cause for me to place my alarm out of reach so I must rise out of bed to turn it off because I have a knack of pressing it without waking up fully.  Yes, it once had its hooks in me too.

It occurred to me the Holy Spirit convicts us to cause us to rise from spiritual slumber and bring us to our senses.  Conviction of sin has been the reason many people came to God at the beginning.  When first exposed to Jesus Christ I was one who was convinced of my sin, I was heading for hell, and needed the forgiveness and salvation afforded me by grace through faith in Him.  But after we have trusted in Christ, we are not instantly perfect.  We can be easily deluded and seduced by selfishness, our eyes can cease to focus resolutely on Jesus, and we fall for temptations.  And our languishing lands us in a spiritual drowsiness, a stupor from which we are only woken by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Alarm bells can start blaring in our minds even before we knowingly plunge into sin, but we have a way of pressing the snooze button.  Comfortable in our bed of sin, conviction is more of an irritant to be silenced rather than a practical, gracious call to upright living as God intends.

How do you treat the conviction which comes from the Holy Spirit as we read the word, hear a sermon, or as we are left alone with our thoughts?  Is conviction a "bad" feeling we try to cover with activity, self-justification, or numb with alcohol?  Or does conviction rouse us to the point we leap out of bed and go to God for cleansing and restoration so we might again walk in obedience?  A shower cleans the body and makes the groggy mind more alert, but only Jesus is able to wash us and bring us back into sweet fellowship with Him.  When the alarm sounds in your heart and mind, don't press the snooze button and go back to sleep.  Seek the LORD about the reason for the wake-up call and walk in obedience according to His Word.  God doesn't just want to wake you up, but He wants you to rise and shine for His glory.