Day 2568 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


1 Peter 5:8 NIV

We tend to think of our enemies as these groups of people overseas. We think about monsters that are so clearly terrifying and ugly that there's no doubt about the evil they carry. But it's not always some ruler or beast that is lying in wait. It's not always something that looks scary and menacing on the surface. Truth be told, evil is a lot closer than we care to realize. And it may not look quite so dangerous on the surface.

We've been talking for a few days about how God gave us His Spirit and calls us to walk through this world of evil and depravity while not being overtaken by it. We're surrounded by all sorts of badness, and it is undeniably a fight to keep it out of our lives. But whether we want to admit it or not, that's a fight we've all lost. We've let this world sneak in. We've given sin a foothold. We've followed the lead of people only seeking their own agendas, all because we blindly trusted in lies.

With what's happening in our world all of the sudden, this verse has been hanging around the back of mind. There is more evil in this place than we imagine. I talk a lot about how broken and dangerous our world has become, but that's for good reason. So many things down here are trying to drag us in the wrong direction, and we have to fight harder every single day to keep from letting that happen. And that's a fight that will not end until Christ comes to end it.

Like I said up top, it's not just some foreign dictator. It's not only found down the dark alleyways in big cities. It's not limited to violent groups of people. Evil is all around us. It's in TV shows that people watch with their families every night. It's in the lyrics to songs that people don't pay attention to. It's in the bottle on the shelf that keeps calling your name. It's in images on a cell phone screen that lure you in. It's in an old flame that calls you all the time even though you're married. It's in the gossip around the water fountain at work. It's on shirts that people wear. Bumper stickers on the car in front of you. It's truly all around us in places that we may not care to realize.

Friends, it's not harmless. Like we discussed a few posts back, it's not a game that we can afford to play around with. The devil has infiltrated so many things in our society and much of it goes unnoticed. It's gets excused because it's entertaining. We convince ourselves it's okay because nobody else sees us doing it. We laugh it off because a shirt is funny. We hum along because the music is catchy. But all of it is only there to drag us away from who we're made to be. It's a trap to get us distracted from the path that Christ calls us to walk. It's a way for the devil to get his claws in us and lead us away from our Savior.

Our enemy is far closer to home than we know. It may be in our home. We have to be more careful and pay more attention than we want to. We have to fight harder than we want to. We have to steer clear of things that everybody else is convinced are just fine. This world is lost, dragged off course by the lies and allure of the devil's tricks. We cannot allow ourselves to become victims of those wicked schemes anymore. We have been warned. We have been told that the evil in this place will only grow. We have been told ahead of time to look out and stay on guard against the junk out there.

Look, it would be far easier to ignore it. It's a lot more fun to just chalk it up as innocent stuff that doesn't really do any damage to us. But there's nothing innocent about what's wrong. And if we're not careful, we'll only come to realize the damage that's been done after it's happened. Not worth the risk. Not worth losing sight of the good that we have the opportunity to pursue. This world isn't worth letting go of what God gave us in Christ. Never let anything or anyone ever convince you otherwise!

The devil is all around us just aching to get our attention, lure us in, and drag us to his turf. But it only happens if we let him and his lies turn our focus away from Christ and His truth.

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