November 11
Alert …
I have always been a morning person. I love the early morning hours before sunrise. That is when I do my best thinking, praying, studying, working. As the day wears on, I wear down. I think I have always lived by that adage, “early to bed, early to rise, makes a [person] healthy, wealthy and wise.”
Well, to be honest, I am not sure about the “healthy, wealthy and wise” part. The only part I truly have accomplished is the “early to bed, early to rise” part.
Lately, however, I find that instead of leaping out of bed, totally alert and ready to begin my day, I am a lot slower and it takes a couple cups of coffee before I feel truly awake and functioning. Maybe that can be attributed to being older, or to the auto-immune fatigue I battle, or to something totally different.
Paul, in the closing remarks of his letter to the Colossians, reminds his readers of certain actions and attitudes he considers necessary for them. He begins those in verse two with a call to prayer and adds a most unusual caveat.
“Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.” [Colossians 4:2 HCSB]
Christians are to devote themselves to prayer. That is not an unusual command. We need to stay in touch with the King of Kings. We need to keep our relationship vital, alive, and open. But then Paul adds that while we pray, we are to stay alert. How do we stay alert? Remarkably, with thanksgiving.
The Greek word for “alert” means to stay awake, be vigilant, watchful, and responsible. According to Paul in this verse, flooding our prayers with thanksgiving keeps us this way. Amazing, isn’t it!
