Welcome back to the series on the deceitfulness of sin and how to guard against it. You can find the first post here, and the second one here in case you missed them.
Many years ago, when my sister and I were just university students, we spent our two week Christmas break touring Paris and London. She was going to school in the south of France, and our parents thought it would be a good Christmas gift for us both if they flew me over to visit her. We agreed! We began our adventure in Paris. It was long before the dawn of Google Maps so we found our way around the city using the only means we had: our hands. Each day we pointed in a random direction and off we went. Munching on baguette smothered in brie and sipping on cappuccinos, we sauntered for miles each day discovering all of the Parisian highlights, as well as some unexpected treasures.
A week later, we boarded a bus for London which included a seasick journey on a ferry across the English Channel. We discovered London the same way as Paris-—one random direction at a time. We found all the famous sights of London, including Buckingham Palace. Awestruck, I stood before the grand stone palace while images from Princess Di’s lavish wedding replayed in my memory. Was she in there today??
My attention turned to the guards that kept watch at the palace doors in the heart of this busy city. Dressed in their red suits, they stood stiff, unmoving. They made no eye contact, and even with all of our silly antics we could not make them flinch, blink or smile. These soldiers had a job to do, and nothing would divert their attention.
When I read verses in the Bible that exhort believers to be on guard, I am reminded of these dutiful, red suited-guards.
Our two weeks of tiring adventures over, we gathered our bags and plodded toward the train station where we would part our ways —me to the airport to return to Canada, my sister to the warmer climate of Nice. We plopped our bags in a heap next to a wall of small lockers. Suitcases, backpacks, a leather bag and few smaller bags, each marked with a Canadian flag that conveyed one of two messages: ‘friendly tourist’ to good-hearted citizens, and ‘opportunity’ to sly hunters lurking in the shadows. My sister dashed to the ladies room before her boarding call, and as she left she turned and said in a stern voice, “Stay put. Do not move. Don’t talk to anyone, and keep your eyes on the bags.” I thought she was being a tad intense, but agreed to do as she said. She was the street-smart one. I was the naive, small-town friendly sort.
She was hardly out of sight when a young man approached the lockers, fiddled with them, pretended to figure out how they opened. After a few minutes of rattling and banging, he asked me if I knew how these things worked. I turned toward him, smiled and apologetically stated that I didn’t know, but maybe he needed to put some money into the slot. I had turned for not more than a few seconds. But in that time, another man had snuck in and grabbed the leather backpack, which I didn’t even know about until my sister returned. The smug pair vanished into a frenetic crowd. Though they stole a valuable bag, thankfully they didn’t get our passports or tickets.
One antidote to the evil of sin is to be on guard for it. Over and over again, Scripture implores believers to be watchful. Be alert. Be on guard. Do not sleep. These are clues to remind us that the Christian life is not a stroll along a peaceful, sandy beach. Instead, we have now entered a war zone. Scripture is full of war-like analogies written intentionally to awaken the believer to fight against complacency. We have been fairly warned. Do we think the writers of the New Testament were being a tad intense? Do we take these warnings seriously? Jesus’ disciples didn’t, at first anyway.
Some of Jesus’ last words to his closest disciples were a warning to be alert.
Following the last supper, just before Jesus was arrested, he led the remaining eleven to the Garden of Gethsemane. Leaving his weary disciples a few yards behind him, as he went to pray he commanded them, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:41)
They listened and heard, but they slept instead. Two times the Lord returned to them, exhorted them to pray. Each time they surrendered to the heavy lure of sleep. When the Lord awoke them, his betrayer was at hand. A tide of fear overcame the disciples and they all fled at Jesus’ arrest. The disciples failed to be watchful and sober-minded, they didn’t heed Jesus’ warning. The result? They abandoned the one they said, just earlier that evening, they would die for.
Peter knew all about the consequences of not being watchful and penned these words from a lesson learned the hard way:
“Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
May we take heed, stand on guard with sober-mindedness, and pray, lest we enter into temptation.
“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober…..But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thess. 5:6, 8)
Next in the series: Flee
Take Up and Read
Luke 21:36
Matt. 26:36–56
Mark 13:33-37
Eph. 6:18
