Awake, and See Jesus

“To be awake is to be alive,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden, longing for a slower, simpler, more deliberate way of living. “I have never yet met a man who was quite awake,” he lamented, “How could I have looked him in the face? We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake.”

Thoreau sensed what many of us feel that life moves faster than our souls can process. We rush, we strive, we serve, and we survive. But are we truly alive? Or have we settled into a kind of spiritual drowsiness, awake in body but asleep in spirit?

Thoreau, for all his insight, could not offer a lasting remedy. He had never met the Man who wakes the dead. He had never encountered the Face that makes hearts burn and eyes open wide. But you and I have. Jesus Christ does not merely call us to simplify. He calls us to wake up to Himself.

A Tale of Two Sisters

One of the most illuminating scenes in Scripture about attention and awakening comes from a humble home in Bethany. Jesus stops by for dinner, and two sisters respond very differently. Martha welcomes Him by preparing, serving, and managing the details. Mary, however, simply sits at His feet, listening.

Martha, overwhelmed, finally interrupts: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40). Jesus gently responds, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (vv. 41–42).

We often frame this story as a personality contrast. Martha the doer, Mary the contemplative. But the real issue is not personality; it’s priority. It’s about where the heart is fixed, where the gaze lingers, where the soul finds rest. Martha is not wrong to serve her mistake is in letting her service eclipse the Savior.

Distracted by Good Things

What makes Martha’s situation so relatable is that she was not distracted by sin, but by serving Jesus. That’s the danger. The pressure is always to make it about something other than Christ even when we’re doing it in His name.

Our calendars fill with ministry, work, parenting, appointments, errands, and endless “urgent” tasks. All the while, our souls drift further from the feet of Jesus. We whisper, “I’ll get to You later,” as we move from one demand to the next.

But when we let good things pull us away from the best thing, our inner lives begin to hollow. We grow discontent. Resentment takes root. Our spiritual vitality fades not because we’ve run from Jesus, but because we’ve subtly replaced intimacy with activity.

When Distraction Breeds Discontent

Martha’s distraction didn’t stay private. It morphed into frustration with Mary, then boiled over into resentment toward Jesus Himself. “Don’t you care?” she asks, as if His silence proved indifference.

That’s what distraction does. It sours our joy, clouds our perspective, and spills out into our relationships. When we stop attending to Jesus, we assume everyone else should attend to us. We become bitter, not better.

Mary, on the other hand, sits silently, soaking up every word from the Master. She doesn’t defend herself. She doesn’t argue. Her stillness speaks volumes. She has chosen the one thing worth her time and Jesus commends her for it.

Jesus Wants Your Attention First

Before Jesus wants your service, He wants your attention. Before He asks for your hands, He seeks your heart. The Christian life is not first about what we do for Him, but what we behold in Him. As Psalm 27:4 says:

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Mary chose that “one thing.” Her posture is a declaration. Jesus is worth my undivided attention. And in sitting there, she found the very thing her soul was made for.

How to Wake Up

Do you feel spiritually dull? Distracted? Half-awake? Jesus’s words to Martha are His invitation to you. “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”

Here’s how to begin again:

• Start with stillness. Even five minutes of undistracted quiet before Jesus can reorient your soul. Don’t fill the space with noise. Just be with Him.

• Return to His words. Open the Gospels. Let Jesus speak directly. Read slowly. Listen deeply. Respond honestly.

• Reprioritize daily. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Make the choice Mary made to put Jesus first, even when the to-do list screams.

• Guard your attention. Not all distractions are sinful, but many are deadly to devotion. Be ruthless about what steals your gaze.

• Pray for alertness. Ask God to wake you up again. He is willing, eager even, to stir your soul.

More Than Thoreau Ever Dreamed

Thoreau longed to awaken and “really live.” But only Jesus makes that kind of life possible. He offers a depth of joy, peace, and purpose that the quietest woods or simplest lifestyle can never give. He doesn’t just help us live better. He makes us fully alive.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Each day, Jesus stands ready to share Himself with you not just information about Him, but real, living fellowship with Him. He is the good portion. He is the quiet center. He is the treasure that won’t be taken away.

Wake up, Christian. Don’t settle for half-alive. Don’t live distracted. Jesus has something far better: Himself.

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