1 PETER 5:8 – “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”.

THEME OF THE DAY: THE CALL TO WATCHFULNESS.   Allow me to put a plug in or free advertisement for a wonderful little book by Brian Hedges.  It is titled Watchfulness: Recovering a Lost Spiritual Discipline, 175 pages, paperback, published by Reformation Heritage Books.  Pastor Hedges introduces his book with these words, “In recent decades the evangelical church has seen a resurging interest in the practical aspects of Christian spirituality. Books on spiritual transformation and the spiritual disciplines line our shelves. Many of these are helpful, offering wise instruction on practices such as meditation, prayer, and fasting. But one discipline rarely appears in these catalogs of devotional habits: watchfulness. Yet watchfulness is as necessary to a healthy spiritual life as meditation and prayer.  Jesus tells His disciples to ‘watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation’ (Matthew 26:41). The letters of Paul, Peter, and John sound the same note, urging us to exercise moral vigilance and watchful prayer (1 Corinthians 16:13; Galatians 6:1; Colossians 4:2, 1 Timothy 4:16, 1 Peter 4:7; 2 John 8).

The call to watchfulness.  Are we answering it?  What does it even mean?  Well, first of all, it is not an option in the Christian life.  All of the life of a Christian is one of constant warfare against the devil, the world, and our flesh.  These foes never negotiate a ceasefire and never surrender.  They attack our minds and hearts with one objective – get our focus off the Lord Jesus. If they are successful, sure defeat against all temptation is certain.  The question begs to be asked of ourselves – are we living each day in a state of watchfulness so as not to be slain on the battlefield of spiritual warfare?  And here is the really scary and deceiving part; if we are living ignorant that all of life, all the time, is a spiritual war, we are spiritually defeated and don’t even know it!

So, what does it mean to be watchful and how do we assume this position?  There is much to say on both those questions, and I recommend you get Pastor Hedges’ book to thoroughly and biblically answer them, but here is the first step to developing a life of watchfulness – know your areas of weakness and that begins with a thorough and consistent discipline of self-examination. In the minor prophet book of Haggai, we read these words – “Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways (Haggai 1:5), and Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:7). Twice we are told to pause and consider our ways.  The application is two-fold.

First, we are commanded to consider our ways.  This includes not only the paths we walk in life, but also what lies within our hearts directing our ways.  The implication is a thorough acquaintance of our strengths and more importantly our weaknesses.  The Puritan Pastor John Owen said, “Let him that would not enter into temptation labor to know his own heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all occasions of sin.”   The second application from the Haggai passages towards a life of watchfulness is to realize how important this is to the Lord.  He would repeat His command in two short verses.  When the Lord repeats something, take it seriously because it is.

Watchfulness.  It is our posture for all of life.  Don’t forget or neglect it; to do so ensures spiritual disaster.

PRAYER: Father, make me to live in a state of vigilant awareness of the daily war I am called to fight in this fleeting and sinful world.

REFLECTION: The Christian who is ignorant of the daily spiritual warfare of this life is a defeated believer.