Sleep as an Enemy

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 15, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 36.

Sleep as an Enemy

SLEEP is often one of the worst enemies we have. Because it has a rightful and important place in life, the devil uses this fact to hoodwink us and thereby to plunder us of some of our choicest blessings. He persuades us that the few minutes’ “overtime” sleep in the morning, or the drowsy indifference of the afternoon or evening, is a demand made upon us by duty alone. We are ready enough to agree with him. By yielding to the inviting temptation of sleep or drowsiness, we lose time and opportunity that will never come back,—and we are the poorer for every such loss, all through life.

One of the cruelest burdens laid on Christ Himself was caused by the failure of His dearest friends in this very thing, when they yielded to sleep rather than watch with Him one hour, in that night before His crucifixion. We may well believe that their sleep-caused failure was one of the bitterest memories of their lives. The men who have learned to fight and conquer the inclination to sleep when they ought to be awake are the men who stand out head and shoulders above their fellows in ability and accomplishment.—Sunday School Times.