When Tony Campolo was in college a professor talked about the well-known childhood prayer: “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

He then pointed out what he perceived to be a flaw. Couldn’t it also say: “If I should wake before I die…”?*

The implication is that there are people who are physically alive, but who may be spiritually asleep! They need to wake up before they die so that they don’t waste their life!

Imagine dying before responding to the greatest promise and invitation the world has ever known. Imagine dying before getting the chance to live a transformed and abundant life because of it? 

Here it is in summary: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

There are some people who are physically alive but spiritually asleep. Don’t be among them. If you are reading or listening to this, there is still time. 

In Christ, God has come to us on a divine rescue mission of love. 

Respond with belief. 

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Notes:

–Sermon. “John 3:16—If I should wake before I die.” March 6, 2022. Click here.

–*Tony Campolo, Stories That Feed Your Soul (California: Regal Light, 2010), 135.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.