Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober…
Years ago back in the late 1970s, I drove a tour bus in Alaska. Not only did I drive the bus, but thanks to the wonders of a microphone mounted on a flex arm I was also the tour guide. Having driven over one hundred thousand miles of Alaskan highways and byways, I feel fairly well qualified to state that a trip through the barren wastelands of Alaska and the Yukon is much more entertaining with a tour guide than it is driving-driving-driving until you get to the next place on the map.
A good tour guide knows a lot about his or her territory. A tour guide has to know where they are at any given time. That kind of goes without saying.
Tourist: “Bus driver, where are we?”
Tour Guide: “Somewhere in Alaska, Ma’am.”
Detail is everything! A good bus driver also knows the history of the area, something about the flora and fauna, and even a bit about current events. Of course, a good tour guide knows a lot of good jokes and a few songs. If you are an Alaskan tour guide you have memorized a few of Robert Service’s poems like, “The Cremation of Sam McGee” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”
The reason I mention this is because my approach to this blog is a lot like my approach to being a tour guide was. Except for the songs, and most of the jokes. A tour guide draws your attention to something seemingly insignificant and then tells you a story about it or gives you some history. By the time they are done, you feel a connection with the wide spot in the road that used to be a mink ranch or the mountain with a split top that looks like a gun sight.
As we wander through Scriptures here on ThreeMinuteBible.com, I look for things that I think might be of interest to you. I like to think that the real tour guide is the Holy Spirit. I certainly feel “led” to stop and write about a passage, or a verse, or a part of a verse, or, in some cases, a word. So here we are again, stopping halfway through a verse, and pondering together what God’s Word has for us when it says, “… with minds that are alert and fully sober…”
The sense I get from this passage is the difference between going grocery shopping when you are hungry and going after you have had a meal. If you are like me, shopping while hungry is never a good idea. The stuff that finds its way into the shopping cart is the stuff that looks good to a hungry person. When I get it home I look at it and realize that I’m never going to eat all that junk. Almost none of it is healthy, all if it is fattening, and a good share of it will spoil.
The best way to go shopping is with a list and a full stomach. List in hand you know what to get, how much to get, and that you have the budget to cover it. When you come home and unpack the groceries you feel good. You bought what you needed, instead of blowing the budget on stuff you thought you wanted.
The state of mind we have when we make a decision is very important to the outcome. Minds that are alert and fully sober make good decisions. Good decisions are the kind we stick with. When we make a good decision, we eliminate doubt and we increase our confidence in the outcome. Knowing why we believe what we do is a keystone for strong faith.
Application: Faith is more than a feeling.
Food for Thought: What is the opposite of ”alert and fully sober?” How does that affect a person’s faith?
Peter himself is a good example of how being alert and sober affects our faith. He knew what he was talking about through personal experience. in Luke 21: 24 – 26, Jesus told His disciples to be awake at all times and to pray. He told them that if they were weighed down with the worries of this life that they could be caught unaware. This was shortly before the garden of Gethsemane, where He told His disciples to pray so that they not enter into temptation. He had just told Peter that he would deny Jesus (Luke 22: 34). In the garden Peter and the others did not pray, but slept from sorrow (Luke 22: 39 – 46). When Jesus returned to tell them to pray, the Scriptures say, “While He was still speaking…” It was too late. They were not alert and had not prayed. Peter proceeded to cut off Malchus’s ear, be rebuked and then deny Jesus three times. He learned the hard way what he is saying here. But he did learn and became a leader who would die for his faith in the Lord. His advice is good, born out of personal experience and given through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rich,
Thank you! I really appreciate you bringing this back to Peter’s own experience. He truly knows of what he speaks!
Great example Rich, Thank you!
1.) What is the opposite of “alert and fully sober?”
Living in our flesh, pursuing activities of this world which may provide a temporary sensation of pleasure, or admiration of people of this world.
Ephesians 5:3-4, 3 sexual immorality, all impurity or covetousness. an idolater, 4 Filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking.
2.) How does that affect a person’s faith?
We turn from our God and into the world, John 6:66-67, 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Ephesians 5:5–7, 5 Everyone doing these has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:18 If we pursue drunkenness, we cannot also pursue God.
Ron,
Thank you for your comments today. They made me think! 🙂
The opposite of alert in this case might be inattentive or indifferent. The opposite of sober could be drunk. Both apply to your examples. The world provides a broad mix of intoxicants that are non-alcoholic. You have listed quite a few.
Great comments. My short answer is the devil’s meal. 1 Peter 5:8.
JEC,
You got it. Ron
Nice reference, JEC!
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.“