Armor of Light

Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is a dangerous thing to do. Do we have anyone here today who can say that they know someone, or perhaps they were sleepwalkers? I was a sleepwalker when I was a child. The thing about sleepwalkers is, they don’t know unless someone tells them, that they sleep walk.

So, I had to look at sleep walking and learn more about the illness. It amazes me how sleepwalking can seem eerily similar to being a lukewarm Christian. Symptoms include:

Walk quietly around their room/

Run or try to “escape”/

Have open eyes and a glassy stare/

Be slow to respond to questions, or not respond at all/

Have no memory of sleepwalking/

Causes of sleepwalking: It can run in your family. Identical twins are more likely to sleepwalk. If you have a parent, brother, or sister who sleepwalks, you're 10 times more likely to do it than someone from a family with no sleepwalkers.

So, why do I talk about sleepwalkers? (NRSV)

An Urgent Appeal

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; It is time to wake up. The Bible message in this passage is concerned with those who are sleepwalking. (NRSV)

16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Notice that this passage speaks of several things that the Lord is not happy with, lukewarm, wretched, pitiable, poor, and Blind. This blind fits with the description of sleepwalking: Have open eyes and a glassy stare.

Why do we need to wake up? Because salvation is near. Now notice also that the scripture says that these sleepers are already believers. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; It is time to wake up.

(NRSV)

12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

So, my mother was the person who told me I was a sleepwalker. She told me about what I had done the night before, when she had discovered that I was up early one night, she said that I was walking with my eyes wide open, I spoke to her when she asked me questions, and when she realized I was not really aware of what I was doing she proceeded to wake me up. Apparently that is when I took a swing at her and she went back to bed. You see, I had my eyes wide open and yet I had no idea what I was doing. The world around us, even people who have been Christians for many years, can be sleepwalking. Going about the business of the world with their eyes wide open, and yet unaware of the consequences of , or the dangers around them.

So, what are we to do? What do we do when we discover that people around us are sleepwalking?

Sleepwalking Treatment

Changing a few lifestyle habits might help you stop sleepwalking. Stick to a sleep schedule and have a relaxing bedtime routine. If you drink or use drugs, stop. If you take medication, ask your doctor whether it might play a role. Now I took these things from a website because I wanted you to see that the symptoms and cures are eerily similar to the symptoms and cures for sleepwalking through our Christian lives.

Walk quietly around their room/

Run or try to “escape”/

Have open eyes and a glassy stare/

Be slow to respond to questions, or not respond at all/

Have no memory of sleepwalking/

Changing some lifestyle habits might help, right? Stick to a sleep schedule, or in other words, do good things regularly. Stop doing things that cause you to sleepwalk, and if symptoms continue, speak to a Christian friend that might pray for you.

(NRSV)

14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.