1 Peter 5:8-9
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. (ESV)
The devil has brought many a Christian down through moral and doctrinal compromise. The way in which our adversary devours is by causing us to fall into all manner of temptations and to succumb to all manner of deceptions. That is why we must guard jealously our lives and our doctrine. We must, first, not be ignorant of his schemes and, second, not fall prey to him.
This is what the apostle Peter is advising the church in our text today. His call is that the believer becomes alert and sober-minded. And, as we have seen so far, the mind is the spiritual battlefield. When we lose focus and are wishy-washy, then the enemy pounces with his temptations and lies in order to bring us down. But, Peter urges, we must resist him just as the saints throughout have continued to do, suffering in the same way that we continue to suffer. And when we resist him out of our submission to God, he has no choice but to flee from us (James 4:7)
Reflections
1. Have you considered before temptations and deceptions as part of spiritual warfare?
2. How should you order your life so that you are constantly alert and sober-minded?
