IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Scary
When I first saw the challenge was “scary” my thought went to images of monsters and other various things. How did I land on this image of a cute little lamb scared out of it’s wits? Well…frankly it all goes back to the scariest thing of all.
There’s a verse in the Bible that says “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) There is a very real threat in our world that is scary beyond belief. He is the devil, an evil spiritual being, bent on your destruction. Like a lion prowling on the fringes of a herd of sheep, he waits to do harm to whoever he can. He hates us all and wants to destroy us just like this poor terrified sheep. But there is good news.
You see a lot of people portray the devil as if he were God’s evil twin. This is not the case. He is immensely powerful and can wreak considerable havoc, but his power pales in comparison to the living God as revealed in Christ. Carrying the sheep metaphor further consider this passage from John 10, Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” The way to avoid being devoured by the lion is to stay close to the shepherd. He is your protector, your friend and if you ask Him, your savior. He laid down His life for you and He took it up again. He is alive and nothing (not even a roaring lion bent on your destruction) can defeat Him.
Draw (and stay) close to Jesus, without Him, life is SCARY!
