2.4 | get woke
…for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” // Ephesians 5:14-17 NLT
The Bible tells us to wake up. Culture tells us to get woke. These don’t mean the same thing, do they? What does it mean to be biblically awake? As I’m writing this, people in mainstream culture are already distancing themselves from the word “woke.” It is not really the use of the actual word that is important but the idea and worldview behind it.
With or without the use of the term “woke,” both the Bible and culture consistently tell us to wake up. “Waking up” in the 1960s and ’70s meant a person was politically active and engaged in protests against racism and the Vietnam War and those for women’s liberation and LGBTQ rights. Today’s definition of woke is directly descended from this era. Waking up fundamentally means to pay attention and become a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem. I think that's something we all would like to do.
“The problem is not the problem, the problem is the way you see the problem.” // Stephen R. Covey
However, getting engaged and being a part of the solution can encompass completely different things depending on our worldview. Like Socrates and his students, we must first agree on the definition of terms. In the last section we identified what woke means according to Critical Theory: to become aware of social injustices based on the worldview of Critical Theory.
Wokeness existed long before it had a cultural definition. The Bible tells us to wake up, as in Ephesians 5:17: “Understand what the Lord wants you to do.” The expectation is for us to wake up by understanding what God wants us to do. How do we do that? Look at Ephesians 5:14. In this verse, Paul tells us that light makes everything visible. The light that he is talking about isn’t just a physical light; it’s spiritual. When describing the same spiritual light mentioned in Ephesians 5, Paul says this in Colossians 1:
“He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” // Colossians 1:12-14 NLT
We are asked to wake up, to understand what God wants us to do. Ephesians tells us that it is Jesus who gives us the light. Colossians says there is a kingdom of darkness we must be rescued from so that we can live in the kingdom of light—the Kingdom of God.
Let’s consider what this light is like. Now I love room-darkening curtains. They might be the best invention ever. Because of room-darkening curtains, I can stay up until 4 AM and wake up at 1 PM—if, and only if, the curtains are closed. One of the worst sensations any of us can experience is having a beam of light shoot straight through the gap in curtains right into our eyes, jolting us awake at the completely unreasonable time of 10 AM . That’s how I imagine the light of the Kingdom Paul speaks about in these passages. Shocking. Startling.
P.S. You may not be a Christ-follower as you are reading this book. That is fine. But I am operating with the assumption that you at least have a familiarity with Christianity and the Bible. If “Stone Cold” Steve Austin can reference John 3:16 and everyone understands it, then I’m going to reference some biblical terminology and assume there is somewhat of an understanding on your part of who Jesus is. If not, open the New Testament and start in the book of John. Don’t just take my word for it; look at the context of the verses I quote throughout this book.