Alert!

Alert!

1 Peter 5:8 AMP

[8] Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

We live in a fallen world: this is clear from all that is happening around us today. As a result of man's first sin in the Garden of Eden, man has inherited a nature of sin that is passed on from generation to generation. It does not now matter what your networth, network and circle of influence look like; as long as you are born of woman, the nature of sin is inherent. It had to take the death of Jesus on the cross to fully pay the price for sin, and His resurrection from the dead to seal our hope of eternal life. It is this sacrifice that underpins everything else that we seek to claim from Jesus today. It is His death that gives us life; it is His pain that brings us hope; it is His stripes that seals our healing and it is His life that we have now inherited and walk under. These are the things I need to check are in place before I can make a claim on the blessings and promises that have been laid out in God's Word.

The verse above makes a few things clear. The first is that it is directed at a particular audience, which are the elect living as exiles and scattered all over the world at the time. What this tells me is that before I can claim, I have to belong. It is those who know who they are and whose they are that can make a claim on the provisions of God for their lives. If I am not a citizen of the country I reside in, there are things that I can go to jail for if I claim. Do you know who you are? Do you belong to Him, and does He know you as His own? Closely tied to this foundation is the understanding that we have just one enemy, who is the devil. It is quite possible that this one enemy can use anything or anyone close to us, and he surely has several agents at his disposal, but we have to be careful to identify the problem the right way, so that the right solution can be applied. I cannot afford to exert energy in the wrong direction. 

A combination of the two positions above will help me keep sober and watchful, as the verse above counsels me to do. Being sober means being alert at all times to the schemes of the enemy. The devil has been waging a war since before creation, so he is pretty skilled at deception. His mission, as laid out by Jesus, is to steal, kill and destroy. How can someone with no eternal life in Him give you anything that is of eternal value? How can that which is destined for destruction make a guarantee of eternal salvation to you? By being sober, I keep my eyes, ears and heart alert to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I do not become careless or complacent; I keep my heart and hope fixed on the One who calls and equips His own for whatever challenges may come. I have all the help I need in order to succeed in life and Godliness. Can you also make the same claim? God's time of favour is here.