Sounding the Alarm
- The Narrow Path
- Jan 12, 2024
- 2 min read
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10, NIV).
I pulled the trigger quickly when buying my first home. It was cute, within my price range, and it was in a good neighborhood. But I still decided to invest in a home security system.
I remember one of the first couple of nights after it was installed. It was 2:00 am, and the alarm started blaring! The sound was loud and unpleasant, which is the point, as it’s designed to alert you to the danger of someone breaking into your home.
Stupidly, I jumped out of bed, without my glasses on, and walked right into the living room where the potential danger would be waiting for me. I’m not sure what I was thinking! If there had been an intruder, I immediately exposed myself to danger.
The sensor had fallen to the floor, thus causing the false alarm. After needing some time for my heart rate to settle down, I was able to return to bed, and go back to sleep. But, lessons were learned that night. I reinstalled the sensor the following day, securely this time, and I resolved to be more mindful about walking into potential dangers, especially at night.
The Lord also spoke to my heart about protecting myself from the schemes of the enemy.
Spiritually, we live in a broken world where, as John 10:10 reminds us, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. We must be alert to this truth, have our spiritual sensors securely fashioned, and heed the sounding of the alarm.
Spiritual sensors can come in a variety of forms: being equipped with God’s truth through His word, friends and mentors who can help you spot potential dangers, or a professional counselor who is equipped to help you better understand the schemes of the enemy, to name a few.
Part of protecting ourselves from the enemy, who, as we are reminded in 1 Peter 5:8, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, is to constantly be alert and aware of its presence.
In our spiritual lives, much like that night at my house, we often walk directly into dangerous situations, despite the sounding of the alarm from the Lord to help protect us.
We turn back to a relationship that we know is toxic. We turn on that TV show or movie that will tempt us into sexual sin. We gossip, despite knowing its potential to hurt someone else. We keep that bottle of liquor in the back of the top shelf, just in case.
The schemes of the enemy can be complex. He attacks the things in our lives that are most important to us–our relationships, our marriages, our homes, etc. But the intent of the enemy is simple–he wants to attack and destroy our faith.
If we return to 1 Peter 5:8, we are reminded that as followers of Jesus we must always be alert and of sober mind. But Jesus is our protector, constantly alerting us to the dangers of the prowling lion. Pay attention to the sounding alarms.
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