1 Peter 5:8-9 Always Be Watchful

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

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, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9 ESV)

It seems to me that when I feel closest to Christ and everything is going well is when I should be the most cautious. I should call in for reinforcements to cover my rear and keep my head on a swivel to assure I am looking out for an attack in every direction. Unfortunately, for most of us that’s not our typical course of action. We tend to let our guard down further because we embrace a false sense of security because of the feeling that we are close to God (see Romans 7:21 – So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.)

This sense of closeness to God can be genuine, but the belief that you can’t or won’t stumble into sin is clearly flawed. I find that it is in these situations that I run into multiple stumbling blocks in my path and I end up tripping on at least one of them. I could have easily spotted the obstacles and avoided the fall but was too caught up in how good everything was in my relationship with Christ. Failing to keep at least one eye on the lookout in end cost me the very thing that I felt was going so well, my closeness to Christ.

Now even the most vigilant among us are going to stub their toe once in awhile because we are human, therefore sinners and fall short of the Glory of God. Therefore we can take comfort in knowing that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ have similar experiences and suffer at one time or another from failure to stay on watch at all times. Even though we will all fall short at one time or another throughout our life, it is important to head Peter’s words and always try to “Be sober-minded; be watchful”. Our next fall could be closer than we think.