Titus 2 Men And Women

If you are like me, you have often heard messages preached on Satan being "like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour." I don’t remember ever not believing the truth of that verse...Satan is alive and ever on the prowl for food. Perhaps it is the picture from early Sunday School papers or flannel graph Bible stories but I always have visualized Satan as the male lion sitting on a hillside, mouth wide open roaring his warning of attack. The problem with my thinking is Lions don’t act that way!

The king lion lays back and sends his "pride" of females out to hunt. The females go hunting as a group, they slink toward the feeding grounds of other animals and crouch low in the grass and watch for easy prey. The lions look for the young, the weak, the female about to give birth, the one that has strayed to the edge of the herd. When they have identified their prey, they silently leap forward and attack...isolating their prey from the protection of the herd and as a team kill the victim. Then from up on the knoll or hillside, the lion king ambles his way to the carcass, ROARS his victory and eats his fill.

Let’s study a few verses from I Peter chapter 5 but I’m going to discuss them in a mixed-up order.

1Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

There is the truth of the lions but don’t stop reading now or you will miss an important part of this lesson. Verse 9: "Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."  It is not enough just to know the lions are there...you must resist them...be ever alert for attack. When you have experienced a victory, reached a mountaintop, walked out of a dark valley, don’t put down your guard...there are lions waiting in the tall grass! The instant you recognize that you are slipping away, the instant an "imp" whispers doubt, fear, guilt, or un-worthiness in your ear. RESIST, remind God of His promise of victory and power and ask God to answer the door and send Satan away.

Now let’s look at 1Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." I love verse seven! What a joy to know that I can give all of my big problems to God. Oh, wait that isn’t what that verse says is it? The verse says "cares", the little worrisome day to day things: Susie’s allergies, Tommy’s trouble with reading, the need for new underwear, time for needed rest, a half hour of alone time with your spouse each day, a hang nail, motivation to cook a meal or clean the house...yes, God wants all of our cares. Nothing is too small to bother God the Creator with. Consider the finite details He put into creating and maintaining the earth, He has numbered the hairs of your head...what is too small for Him?

I’m not quiet so fond of 1Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:" Humility is not my strong point! The older I get, the easier it is to realize that I can do nothing but stumble and fall in my Christian life, unless I ask the Lord to keep me humble. Even then, Satan will send a lion just to see if I’ve stepped off the path and into the rocks or tall grass. The other day someone was praising me about something and I started to swell. It sounded so good to my ears. Then the Holy Spirit quietly reminded me who gets all of the praise. I’m only a vessel that allowed God to flow through it.

In this same thought of humility let’s consider 1Peter 5:5 "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Young people, young Christians often battle this area of pride. Satan tries to convince them that they can do it "their way", they don’t need help, all that old fashioned stuff won’t work today. Let’s consider the herd once again. When the the young males and non-compliant females start to show their independence they are driven from the herd. They lose the protection of the society as a whole. They have to learn hard truths of survival alone. If and when they are re-established in a herd, the have picked up some scars and learned some hard lessons along the way. It is so much easier for us to humble ourselves to God, to stick with the tried and true teaching then to try to do battle with a righteous God who is resisting our stubborness.

We fight and pull away to do our own thing, to find our on pleasure, to gather things to make us happy when we can so easily trust the teaching of 1Peter 5:10. "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." Do you see that? While we are struggling and fighting the Lord, He wants to use His grace to mature us, to establish us, to empower us, and to make us content. We foolishly are thinking, "A few more mouths full of that green grass over there and I’ll have enough, I’ll be content."

1Peter 5:4 "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Jesus is coming again and when he does our reward will be absolutely genuine. We will not stand embarrassed with baubles, bangles or beads of this world. No ‘cultured’ pearls, ‘created’ emeralds, ‘color enhanced’ topaz, or ‘c z’ diamonds. No a bit of ‘gold filled’ or ‘electroplating’. When Jesus comes the crown of glory will be the finest that God can make. So it will be worth casting at Jesus feet.

1Peter 5:11 "To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Share us with your friends: