It had been an exhausting day–physically, emotionally, and mentally. I crashed into bed that night, slept deep, hard and fast. About 3 AM I pulled myself out to make a washroom trip… probably the only thing that could have forced my body into movement. Bumping off a wall or two I tottered my way to the washroom and lifted the lid of the laundry hamper. Thankfully, at the last second, the fog cleared and disaster was averted.
“Be alert and of sober mind,” warns Peter (1 Pet. 5:8). Fuzzy thinking can get us into a heap of troubles!
“Sober” is an interesting word. We tend to think of it as simply meaning the opposite of drunk, which it does, but it also means to be serious, restrained, not giddy. Peter calls Christians to be “of sober mind.” Peter also calls us to “Be alert,” To ever be wide-eyed, “on the watch” for prowling predators.
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Perhaps you’ve seen those nature shows. Some frail and innocent creature is nibbling away at the undergrowth when suddenly its ears perk up… its body stiffens as its gaze darts about looking for what its senses say is surely near. Over there–it spots movement… a lion! The creature darts madly zigzagging through the landscape. Other creatures taking its cue stampede. The lion, eyes locked on its single, frail quest pursues, galloping at maximum stride. Will it outrun its prey; will the target tire and succumb?
“Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
What can halt a rampaging lion? The “king of the beasts,” we call him. Must we all tremble under his rule?
But wait…. there is a bigger Lion. A Lion with our best interests at heart! A Lion Whose roar shakes the earth! A Lion Whose appearance can halt the predator and send him cowering and whimpering away!
Christians know this Greater Lion, this King of the king of the beasts and King of the kings of men– Do you?
Don’t stumble about in the night any longer! Sober up! Be alert! It’s a jungle out there. Come to the Great Lion!
Press on…
thebrokenrunner 
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