Christian singer-songwriter Keith Green wrote a song in the late 70s called "Asleep in the Light". The lyrics of the song are based on verse 14 of today's passage. If you've never heard the song, take a moment to look it up and listen. It's a bit dated, but the message is strong, to the point that the song became controversial in its directness. Many Christians at the time began to say the lyrical message was too harsh in calling out apathy and lukewarmness in the Church. Here is an example of one of the lines; "How can you be so dead when you're so well fed... Jesus rose from the grave, but you can't even get out of bed?"

The idea presented is that Christians can often become so comfortable in their Christian lives that they fall asleep. Instead of being led to a place of urgency and sober alertness in the face of spiritual warfare, those who have crossed over from darkness to light and now experience the love, grace, mercy, and security of God can "fall asleep in the light." A Christian who loves God may have fallen spiritually asleep and not even know it. If a person is physically asleep, they probably do not realize it, but as soon as they become aware they are sleeping, it is evidence that they are now waking up. The same is true in a spiritual sense; one of the best ways to wake sleeping Christians up is to expose them to the fact that they are sleeping by revealing what spiritual sleep looks like. This idea of a sleeping Christian is very dangerous because those who are sleeping can physically do many of the same things someone awake can do. We can speak when we are asleep. We can hear when we are asleep. We can walk when we are asleep. We can think when we are asleep. We can even sing and accomplish tasks when we are sleeping. In the same way, Christians can do many spiritual things to make it seem as though they are awake and active in the Christian faith, yet all the while they are sleeping. And while many Christians comfortably sleep, the devil is always awake and active, prowling like a lion seeking whom he may devour.

There are a few more important points in today's passage specifically related to evangelism that should be noted. Paul doesn’t only say that we were once in darkness, he says we were once in darkness itself. Now, as Christ followers, we are not only in the light, we are light in the Lord. Think about that; as an unbeliever, you were darkness itself, but now that you have been saved and redeemed, you have become light itself. Jesus himself shines from inside of each of those who are his followers. As Jesus himself said years earlier, "What good is salt that has lost its saltiness?" And in the same way, what good is light that is not shining? If Jesus is only hidden in your heart but not seen by the world, then what good is it? Let this be a challenge to everyone reading this to not go about life with our neighbors, friends, and co-workers wondering if we are Christians or not. It should be obvious. Paul was also careful to say that we should avoid the unfruitful works of darkness, not the people who are in darkness. Many could have read these words and used them as an excuse to avoid evangelizing simply by saying they are avoiding darkness, but Paul made the clear distinction here. We are not called to avoid the darkness, but to be a light in the darkness. Charles Spurgeon often preached on topics presented in Ephesians and here is yet another of his quotes on this topic of spiritual sleepiness to close today's devotional. “The man who is asleep does not care what becomes of his neighbors; how can he while he is asleep? And oh! Some of you Christians do not care whether souls are saved or damned… It is enough for them if they are comfortable. If they can attend a respectable place of worship and go with others to heaven, they are indifferent to everything else.”