When We Should Stay Awake

YOU may agree that staying awake when you are at school is important. Many get sleepy during their class periods, but to learn, you must stay awake. Perhaps you also go to meetings where you study the Bible.

What do you think you can do to help you stay awake?—a One idea is to go to bed earlier at night. Maybe a nap in the afternoon will also help. Let’s see what we can learn from what happened to a youth who fell asleep late one night during a talk by the apostle Paul. Look in the Bible at Acts chapter 20, verses 7 to 12, and see what happened.

Paul had been visiting the congregation located in the seaport city of Troas. The Bible says that Paul “was going to depart the next day” by boat. So “he prolonged his speech until midnight.” We read: “Seated at the window, a certain young man named Eutychus fell into a deep sleep while Paul kept talking on.” What happened next?—

Eutychus fell out of the window and “down from the third story.” Paul and the others ran down the stairs as fast as they could. Eutychus was on the ground​—dead! Can you imagine how sad they all felt?— The Bible says that Paul took Eutychus into his arms and hugged him. Soon Paul cried out with joy: ‘Don’t worry, he’s all right!’ God had brought Eutychus back to life!

What can we learn about God from what happened to Eutychus?— One thing is that Jehovah, our heavenly Father, can bring the dead back to life, including young ones. Jehovah understands and loves you, yes, even more than your parents do. When Jesus was on earth, he showed what the Father is like by taking little ones into his arms and blessing them. He also resurrected young people, including a 12-year-old girl.

How does knowing that your heavenly Father loves you make you feel?— Yes, it makes us love Jehovah in return and want to obey what He says. Do you know how we can show that we love Him?— One way is by saying that we do. Jesus said: “I love the Father.” But Jesus did more than just say that he loved God. He showed it by what he did.

Jesus obeyed God. “I always do the things pleasing to him,” Jesus said. If we do the same, then to please Jehovah and his Son, Jesus, we will try our best to stay awake when we should.