Awake and Free The Joy of Living Fully His

# Living Awake and Free: The Joy of Being Fully His

In a world that constantly pulls us in a thousand directions, there's a profound invitation waiting for us—to live awake and free, fully surrendered to the One who knows us best. This isn't about perfection or performance. It's about presence, purity, and the deep peace that comes from truly belonging to God.

## The Question That Changes Everything

When we think about the return of Christ and the end times, it's easy to get caught up in speculation, signs, and timelines. But there's a more pressing question we should be asking: What kind of people should we be until He comes?

This isn't about paranoia or panic. It's about purity and readiness. God isn't impressed with our Sunday performances—the hallelujahs we shout or the religious routines we maintain. He's after who we are on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He wants the real us, not the masked version we've learned to present in church.

Second Peter 3:11 challenges us directly: "What holy and godly lives you should live." Readiness for Christ's return isn't about acting right; it's about being real. It's about stopping the performance and starting to walk in genuine authenticity before God.

## The Danger of Sleepwalking Through Faith

Many of us have become what could be called "sleepwalking saints." We've heard about Jesus' return so many times that we've grown comfortable, even complacent. We agree that Jesus is coming soon, but we live like He's running late.

This isn't outright rebellion—it's something more subtle and perhaps more dangerous. It shows up as "later." We'll pray later. We'll worship later. We'll get serious about our faith later. But later has a way of never arriving.

We don't deny Jesus with our mouths; we deny Him with our calendars, our priorities, and our daily choices. Trust is the backbone of our relationship with Christ. If we truly trusted Him fully, obedience wouldn't feel like sacrifice—it would feel like alignment.

## Looking Forward, Not Around

The world looks around in fear, but those who follow Christ are called to look forward in faith. As 2 Peter 3:12 reminds us, we're "looking forward to the day of God." We can't live awake while we're distracted by everything happening around us.

Heaven is what we're made for, and holiness simply prepares us to belong there. This isn't about duty performed out of fear—it's about love drawing us closer. When we've been rescued from the pit, when we've experienced God lifting us out of the mire and setting our feet on solid ground (Psalm 40:2), we don't chase after Him out of obligation. We pursue Him because we know the Rescuer, and we want more of His presence.

## Peace That Doesn't Come From Perfection

One of the most liberating truths we can embrace is that peace doesn't come from perfection—it comes from His presence. Isaiah 26:3 promises, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you."

Peace doesn't flow from doing everything right. It flows from trusting the One who is right. Pretending creates exhaustion, but surrendering brings peace.

Finding that quiet place—whether it's in your car, your kitchen, your garden, or the shower—where you can simply be in God's presence without pressure or agenda changes everything. It's not about manufacturing an experience or forcing a feeling. It's about sitting with God, taking off all the pressure, and letting Him speak.

When we step away from these moments with God, we carry a rest that isn't laziness but trust. Rest is acknowledging that He's got it, that He knows what's best for us, and that His plans are greater than anything we could perform on our own.

## The Silent Danger of Drift

There's a warning we need to hear: Either you grow or you drift. There's no neutral ground in faith. Faith isn't a parking lot where we can park and stay comfortable. It's a pathway that requires movement.

Drift is dangerous because it feels peaceful. It's an unresisted current—a silent motion without friction, splash, or alarm. Just slow distance. Hebrews 2:1 warns us: "We must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it."

Drift starts small. It begins with delay, then becomes dullness where worship hits our ears but doesn't stir our hearts. It progresses to distance as we miss gatherings and isolate ourselves. Eventually, we find ourselves defending our lack of spiritual fire with excuses about busy seasons.

If nothing is pushing back on you in your Christian walk, you're probably not following Jesus—you're just floating. The current of culture always pulls seaward, but God calls us shoreward.

## The Lie That's Been Working Since Eden

In Genesis 2:16-17, God gave Adam and Eve one rule—just one. They could freely eat from every tree in the garden except one. This wasn't God being restrictive; it was God establishing boundaries for their maximum freedom and protection.

The lie Satan told Eve in the garden is the same lie we still fall for today: "God is trying to limit your freedom. You can't trust Him. There's no fun in following Christ—too many rules."

But here's the truth: Sin robbed people of freedom, not God. When Adam and Eve stepped outside the boundary God established, instead of gaining freedom, they lost most of the freedom they already had. They lost the freedom to live in the garden, freedom from shame, guilt, fear, pain, and suffering.

Real freedom isn't the power to do whatever we want with no consequences. That type of freedom has never existed. True freedom is the ability to exercise our will within the perimeters God establishes—perimeters designed not to restrict us but to protect us.

God wants us to be as free as we possibly can be. But He understands the big picture and knows that maximum freedom can only be found under His authority. His boundaries aren't chains—they're safety rails.

## Living Fully His

What does it mean to live fully His? It means remembering who we are—rescued, set apart, known by name. It means that holiness, godliness, and peace aren't separate compartments of our lives but the overflow of belonging deeply to Christ.

Galatians 5:1 declares, "Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."

Living fully His is about three things flowing together: belonging, becoming, and behaving. When all three are aligned and flowing, we're growing. We can't straddle two worlds—living for ourselves during the week and showing up with hallelujahs on Sunday.

Living free means choosing presence over performance every single day. It means moving toward Jesus—not toward perfection, which we'll never achieve, but closer to Him with each step.

## The Invitation

If your faith has become routine, if you've been drifting, if you've been performing rather than surrendering, there's good news: The cage is already open. The cross did that. You just have to stop living in it and walk out.

Your brightest days are ahead of you. You're not on the way down; you're on the way up. The game isn't over. Don't let past mistakes or present struggles convince you otherwise.

God knows your name. He formed you in your mother's womb. He has never left you, even when you may have left Him. His love for you is greater than you can imagine, and His presence is waiting for you to simply come as you are—hot mess and all.

The invitation today is simple: Wake up. Live free. Be fully His. Not because you're afraid of missing heaven, but because you've been rescued and you know who the Rescuer is. And once you truly know that kind of love, you'll never want to sleep through it again.