“Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”
(1 Peter 5:8 KJV). Christians
need to take special heed in the advice offered in this verse, especially
gospel singers, ministers or anyone in the public eye and looked upon as
an example. As Christians, we
have an adversary who relentlessly seeks to destroy our joy, our happiness
and especially our witness. Satan
does this in many ways. Typically,
he will find that one area (which we all have), in our life, which is a
particular weakness. It may
be an attitude of impatience, a quick temper, a critical spirit, a
gossiping tongue, a lustful eye or hundreds of other small areas that
Satan knows is our weakest spot. Keep
in mind that Satan has been at this for literally thousands of years and
knows every trick in the book. We
must be careful to not get so spiritually high and mighty that we think we
are above Satan’s attacks, for the Bible says that “pride cometh
before a fall”.
In
the past several years, I have seen so many people in leadership positions
in God’s kingdom to fall from grace through some transgression.
Televangelists, pastors, gospel singers, Sunday school teachers,
are all subject to the attacks of Satan.
What we need to remember as Christians is that if it wasn’t for
God’s grace, we could have been the one that fell.
We all have the sinful nature within us and have to constantly be
on guard against Satan’s attacks. Christians
and fellow gospel singers should do and practice two major things relating
to this issue: 1) We need to
prepare ourselves for Satan’s attacks, and we do that by being in
God’s word constantly, daily prayer, devotion and surrounding ourselves
with other spiritually strong people.
We need to put on the full armor of God as described in Ephesians
6:10-18 (If you want God’s primer on resisting the attacks of the devil
and of temptation, I suggest all Christians should be very familiar with
these verses). 2) In addition
to being prepared for Satan’s attacks, when we see a fellow brother or
sister in Christ who has fallen, Satan would want nothing more than for us
to tear them down further through gossip and self-righteous attitudes.
We need to go to them face-to-face (if possible) and discuss the
issue with them, then lift them up in prayer and support.
I’ve noticed (sadly), that sometimes Christians can be some of
the meanest and most critical people when observing a fellow Christian who
has fallen. We need to be
careful that non-Christians are constantly observing us and noticing our
reaction to various situations. We need to lead and set the example of love and support for
fellow Christians when we see them caught in sin’s snare.
In closing, our example as Christians should not be a particular preacher, gospel singer, or in any person. If you follow me every day, I would eventually slip and let you down, just as any other human would. Our example should be in Jesus and Jesus only. There is a song Legacy sings which is one of my favorites in the message it conveys. It is called “Just Look at Jesus”. We should not look at each other to find the perfect example, satisfaction or peace of mind. That only comes from our one and only true example, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for the love he shows! Praise the Lord for salvation he offers! And Praise the Lord for the strength He offers in helping us, on a daily basis, to resist the devil to be that witness to a lost and dying world who is hungry to hear of His wonderful love, mercy and forgiveness.
In
Christian Love,
Tim Perry for Legacy