While You Were Sleeping

This is going to be a long post. Just a warning...but it is something that I really want to blog about so I hope you read it.

At the Christmas Eve Service at Faith Community Church, two young men performed the following song-While You Were Sleeping. It is a song by Casting Crowns that like a lot of their songs has very powerful potential. I'm posting the lyrics below.

"While You Were Sleeping"

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

So reading through this in the beginning you get the idea that it is one of those great heart wrenching Christmas songs about Bethlehem and what could have been different on the night that Christ was born. And you might think, well that's great but has no relevance to me. But this simply isn't the case. You get to the end and everything-the whole message of the song-coms to light.
We are blessed to live in America. Don't get me wrong by this post. We are truly blessed to live here. But America isn't what it used to be. A nation that was once founded on Christian principles is now allowing same sex marriage, abortion, and other practices that should cause the human race to blush. As a nation, sometimes we are more worried about saving the whales than saving the human race. I'm not talking simply salvation in a spiritual nature although that could definitely apply, but the nation is not doing everything that it could to reduce poverty or end the murders that happen in our city streets everyday. Honestly I really don't have an answer to how end these problems much like many of the other people in the nation. I wish I did. But I think there is something that could be done. And I definitely am going to keep my ears, eyes, and mind open for solutions. But back to the song.
To the spiritual-Do we realize that Jesus could come back at any moment? The Bible says that Jesus would come back like a thief in the night. Yet, I know I for one live like every day is just another day for work to pile up, days filled with frustration, happiness. Lately, I've been trying to live my life so that it would have more of an impact on those around me. But I'm still not doing all that I could do. Are the Christians like me going to be caught sleeping-living life for our own pleasure and unconcerned with the fact that once Jesus does come back there are going to be thousands of people-many of whom we will know doomed to destruction.
More has to be done. We must impact our world for Christ. I'm still working on an overall plan. But you know what, our action -whatever it is-doesn't have to be big. It just has to be what God wants, and it has to make a difference. You don't have to save the world all at once. Just focus on one person at a time. That's all it takes. So I'm sorry for the long post, but this is something I really have felt God has been speaking to me about lately.