“Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘he’s alive!’”
Acts 20:10 (NLT)
Paul was preaching late into the night because he only had a short time with the believers in Troas. He was strengthening them, encouraging them, and giving them what the Lord had told him to say. Eutychus was in the room, hearing the message, and it looked like he was in the right place. But the message was not bringing life to him. Eutychus fell asleep in the window and dropped three stories to the ground, where he died.
What looked final by the rules of earth was not final in the Kingdom of God. Paul went down, picked him up, embraced him, and said, “Don’t worry, he’s alive.” Those four words carry faith, prayer, peace, and confidence in the God who still heals us today. Paul did not need a complicated prayer in a time of trouble. Like Elijah and Elisha praying over widows’ sons, Jesus touching the coffin in Luke 7, and Jesus taking the young girl’s hand in Luke 8, Paul responded with faith in God’s ability to restore what had been broken.
But I wonder if we notice the danger of sleeping in the pew today, either literally or figuratively. Our slumber may be because we are bored, distracted, worried, tired, or simply not practicing what has been preached to us. We can be close to the message and still not be awake to it. We can look safe in the pew, but like Eutychus, be sitting in a dangerous place because the Word is not being received and practiced. We fall into sin or trouble much easier when we’ve been sleeping in the pew.
I am thankful for a God who heals when we fall, who restores us when we slip, and who is willing to embrace us in mercy. But I pray we do not wait for the fall to wake up. If we have been sleeping in the pew, may we give our attention back to God, recommit what we have given to the world, and put the Word into practice throughout the week. Then the message we hear in the pew will wake us up, not encourage our slumber.