How many of us, when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, either hit snooze or dismiss? If we’re honest, almost each and every one of us hears the alarm go off and hits whatever button will make it stop going off, but continue to lay in bed. We rarely allow our alarm clock to do its job, to wake us up from our slumber.

Then there’s the ever persistent biological clock. You know the one. When you wake up before you want to and insist on laying in bed until the last possible minute despite whether you are sleeping or not. We lay there cursing our mind or body for being too active to be able to go back to sleep, when honestly, it’s just our body’s way of saying we’ve had enough rest and sleep.

Now, lets apply this to our spiritual walk. How many times do we sit in church, listen to the message, agree with what is being said and just leave without letting it affect us? Worse still, how often do we have an encounter with God and His Spirit and we treat it like we do our alarm clock? We are extremely revved up after the encounter, but when we get back to real life it only changes our actions momentarily.

What would our world look like if we let the encounters with our Creator affect us for the rest of our lives? How much more would we be able to witness to those around us if we would let the Holy Spirit overtake our day-to-day life instead of letting the brief life circumstances overtake us? Maybe the real question is not how it would affect others, but how would it affect us to allow the God of the universe have complete reign in our lives.

We, as Christ-followers, need to quit using church as an alarm clock. We need to stop using it as something to get us “refilled” at the start of the week. Rather, it should be about us going to meet with the Almighty to thank Him for getting us safely through another week.

So here’s my question. Are you willing to allow God to transform you or will you continue to use church functions as a place to get revved up for the next week only to let life get you down by the middle of the week? Please be honest with yourself and with God on this question.

So as I leave you today, I want to challenge each of us to allow the messages, passages of the Bible, and lessons we learn to be more than just an alarm clock. May they do what we expect them to do and may God use them to transform our lives into the beautiful masterpiece that only He can see. Then when the masterpiece is done, we will be able to go up into Heaven and enjoy the tapestry with our Father.