Sober Vigilance

Sober Vigilance (1 Peter 5:8)

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

Yesterday we considered the part of this instruction that addresses the seriousness-the gravitas-with which we live our lives. The instruction doesn't mean that we don't laugh or have fun; it does mean that we understand the need to live carefully and wisely because we have a dangerous enemy. The gravity of the threat warrants careful thinking about all of life and how we live it. We live soberly because we walk in the enemy's camp.

Peter gives us more instruction in the verse. He tells us to be vigilant. We might use the word "watchful" today. The word has the idea of one who is on guard duty and knows that the enemy lurks somewhere in the darkness. The guard can't rest for a moment. Vigilance is the watchword for the day.

The word shows up in our verse in that kind of context-the enemy who lurks nearby waiting for the opportunity to strike. We don't know when he will strike. We don't know how he'll attack. Peter warns us, however, to understand that he's "out there." He is watching. He is waiting. One moment of anything less than vigilance is all the opening he needs.

As I thought about the verse through the day yesterday (knowing I would write this later in the evening), I thought about the areas of a Freedom Fighter's life that might warrant this careful watchfulness. Allow me to share the things that come to mind.

I suggest to you that we need to exercise vigilance in the area of attitude. Pride, anger, covetousness, greed and other attitude issues creep into our lives easily if we're not watchful. The Psalmist understood his vulnerability when he asked God to search his heart. He knew that the enemy of our souls can do serious damage when our attitudes are less than godly.

You may also want to think about vigilance in that which attracts you. I know too many men who experienced the devouring damage of the devil because they became attracted to the wrong things. Those attractions can lead us away from God's call to holiness and undivided loyalty.
Scripture teaches us to examine our lives. When was the last time you gave watchful attention to the things to which you find yourself drawn.

Finally, it occurred to me yesterday that I need to exercise vigilance in the things to which I'm not attracted. Do I sense no attraction to God's Word? Can I go days without a hunger for prayer? Is fellowship with other believers something I can leave or take? I become an easy target for the enemy if I choose not to pray attention to those things God has told me deserve my interest.

Careful, persistent vigilance is the firewall that prevents the devil from invading our lives. Heed Peter's instruction. The cost of sober thinking and diligent vigilance is far less than we'll pay if we live without them! - John Strain is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Toms River

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 28; Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1

Great Quote: In return for the love which brought the Son of Man down from heaven, in return for the love which led Him to die for us on the cross, we cannot give Him holy lives, for we are not holy; we cannot give Him pure souls, for our souls are not pure; but this one thing we can give, and this is what He asks, hearts that shall never cease from this day forward, till we reach the grave, to strive to be more like Him; to come nearer to Him; to root out from within us the sin that keeps us from Him. To such a battle I call you in His name. And even if at the last day you shall not be able to show any other service, yet be sure that when thousands of His saints go forth to meet Him, and to show His triumph, He will turn to embrace with arms of tenderness the poor penitent who has nothing to offer but a life spent in one never-ceasing struggle with oneself, an unwearied battle with the faults that had taken possession of his soul. -- Frederick Temple