Jumping the Fence

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8 When I read this verse, a distinct picture comes to mind. ---It reminds me of an episode of a tv show I used to watch. This guy has a motor home that had been stored behind a barbed-wire fence, and he didn't have a key to get into the lot when he really needed to get to it. The man did what any of us would have done if we had to get in; he started walking the perimeter of the fence to find some easy way in. Perhaps there was a gate with enough room to slip in. Maybe there was a broken piece in the fence or missing some barbed-wire somewhere. Whatever the case, he was looking for the weak-link, a way in.---Peter writes "be self-controlled and alert" as we go through life, because our enemy the "devil prowls around" the perimeter of our lives looking for a way to gain entrance. He thinks he owns us. He thinks that we are his property. He looks for the weak-link in our lives to gain access. He may slip in, or crawl under. He's not beyond jumping over the fence to get to us. Have you put into place safe-guards to keep him out? Staying in God's Word daily can be like a couple of doberman pinchers keeping the devil at bay. Unfortunately, we lower our guard with the smallest of sins. The sin of pride may crack the gate open. Perhaps a little bit of gossip offers our enemy an alternative way in. Again, the reminder: "be self-controlled and alert." Oh, and he isn't trying to get in to hang out with you. The "devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." He wants to own you.