Often in our spiritual journey with Christ, we experience the ebb and flow of life’s seasons. There are periods of immense joy and deep despair, times of challenging trials and peaceful tranquility, moments of overwhelming sorrow and soothing comfort. But what about those times when we aren’t soaring on mountain peaks or trudging through gloomy valleys? In my personal observation, I am convinced that the majority of Western Christians today find themselves not predominantly in the first two categories but rather in a third one – a state where their lives don’t revolve around walking in highs or lows, but instead linger in between. They dwell not on mountaintops or in dark valleys but inhabit the dangerous plateaus of spiritual complacency – a state I refer to as “Spiritual Dormancy.”

Now as Christians, we won’t always be riding on cloud nine, nor will we constantly oscillate from one affliction to the next. However, when we journey through the necessary mundanities of daily life, it’s important to remain vigilant and avoid slipping into a dormant autopilot mode.

What Is Spiritual Dormancy?

According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, ‘dormancy’ means the state of being inoperative or inactive for a prolonged period of time. It’s when something or someone has entered into “a state of having their normal physical functions slowed down” or permanently halted for a significant period of time. This term could also indicate a period of deep sleep.

Spiritually, this applies to Christians with respect to the degree of their communion with Christ. When spiritual complacency gradually enters our walk with the Lord, we tend to overestimate our strength and underestimate the power of a vibrant prayer life. We start subconsciously despising private devotions like prayer and reading Scripture due to other “pressing priorities.” As we neglect these spiritual disciplines day after day, deceiving ourselves into thinking it’s not so bad because we’re getting by without them, we slip into a pattern of prayerlessness, church absenteeism and spiritual malnourishment for weeks, months or even years. As a result, our lives become spiritually dormant and we no longer actively participate in the local church. We often settle for prayer lives sorely lacking intimacy with God. We justify our catatonic prayer lives with countless excuses, eventually leading to a life devoid of fresh intimacy with God.

The Root Cause

The peripheral causes of ‘Spiritual Dormancy’ can be varied, including but not limited to the busyness of life, lack of motivation to pray or read the Scriptures, personal besetting sins, excessive indulgence in worldly entertainment, pursuit of frivolous time-wasting activities and poor time management. However when trying to pinpoint the cause of any spiritual ailment, we cannot just focus on external causes or symptoms. Like a skilled physician we must also examine the underlying root cause from which symptoms originate. 

When we trace the root cause of all these symptoms, pride emerges as the common denominator. Our pride subtly deludes us into thinking that we are not in much need of God’s grace and guidance, blinding us to the reality of how spiritually weak we are without daily communion with Christ. Allowing unchecked pride to proliferate in our lives leads us to regularly make lame excuses for why we no longer pray, read, attend church or have any zeal for the things of God.

The Church in Sardis

In Revelation 3:1-2, Jesus poignantly addresses a similar case of spiritual dormancy in the Church in Sardis,

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.”

(Revelation 3:1-2 ESV)

Above, Jesus lovingly confronts the local Church in Sardis, revealing their spiritual deadness and rebuking them for their dormancy. Despite having a reputation of being “alive,” they were actually “dead.” Most scholars agree that by using the word “dead,” Jesus was emphasizing their lack of spiritual vitality. In essence, the Church in Sardis was deeply asleep and urgently needed a wake up call.

(Most commentators agree that Jesus was addressing a mixture of both true and false believers in this passage.)

The Church at Sardis should not be imagined as an outwardly defunct or decrepit congregation on the brink of dissolution. It most likely had built a high reputation for being full of life, force, and vigor. The church seemed to be firing on all cylinders. However, Jesus saw through the façade and exposed them for who they were – spiritually dead. Most of their ministers, church programs, sermons, prayer meetings, evangelism, church conferences and discipleship schemes were probably dead too or on the verge of dying.

This is a stark reminder that sometimes what we interpret as a “healthy” or “thriving” church, can in reality be the opposite to what God thinks.

The Radical Remedy

Ultimately, a radical diagnosis calls for a radical remedy. According to Jesus, the solution for spiritual dormancy is twofold:

“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

(Revelation 3:2-3 ESV)

First, we need to “wake up” and humbly recognize how dormant and dead we are and how spiritually impotent our lives have become. We need to heed the words of Christ and repent of our dead prayer lives, our dead sermons, our dead devotions, our dormant zeal and hollow hunger for the things of God. 

Secondly, we must “strengthen the things that remain.” This involves recognizing our individual responsibility to proactively pursue sanctification through the ordinary means of grace prescribed by God (fervent daily prayer, voracious daily reading of the Word, active participation in your local church, joyfully partaking in the sacraments, and evangelism / discipleship). 

Finally, we need to ask God to give us a re-enthralled vision of who Christ is and what He has accomplished.

Only then can we expect a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto our lives, igniting within us a renewed hunger and genuine concern for God’s glory.

After all, Christ did not suffer and die for a dormant bride.