Peril

 

Peril is a great word.  It doesn’t mean that something bad is happening, it means that something bad might happen, if you aren’t careful.  When I was in elementary school, our family lived in a trailer park just off the four-lane highway, US 40.  The owner of the trailer park was Henry Freuling.  He had a big house near the trailer park entrance, a garden, and a chicken house.  Mr. Freuling had a rooster who “ruled the roost.”  This rooster watched for any incursion into his territory and punished the interloper with a flogging.  But, morning and afternoon, I had to walk to and from the school bus stop and walk past this rooster’s domain.  If I saw him coming towards me, I could stare him down and gain superiority.  But if I was careless and the rooster snuck up behind me, he had the upper hand … even though roosters don’t have hands.  So, here it is: every day, I was in “peril” of that rooster.  Hey, you are in peril every moment of Satan and his minions.  And Paul warns us in II Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”.  Paul doesn’t say we might be in peril, he said that we are in peril.  And Peter goes on to give us the secret to defeat the enemy in I Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”  Hey, today, Satan is after you!  He is not possibly going to cause problems; Satan will attach you and try to destroy you.  Yes, he will!  Our defense is to be serious (sober) and watchful (vigilant) for the adversary.  Don’t let Satan sneak up on you, like that old rooster did to me.  Be careful and vigilant and let the Holy Spirit fight for you.  And you if do, you will survive to fight another day.