1 Peter 5:8-9

When a concert is going to take place, there are many people who get
involved in the setup process. One particular job requires the workers to
walk across four-inch rafter beams, which are a hundred feet or more above
the floor, and hang up speakers and spotlights. One singer by the name of
Steve Green said this about those workers, "The fellows I talked to weren't
bothered by the sight of looking down a hundred feet. What they didn't
like, they said, were jobs in buildings that had false ceilings (acoustical
tile slung just a couple of feet below the rafters). They were still high
in the air, and if they slipped, their weight would smash right through the
flimsy tile. But their minds seemed to play tricks on them, lulling them
into carelessness."
Many times this is exactly how sin works in our lives. It is much
easier to resist sin when we see the tremendous fall that is right under our
feet. We understand that if we commit this sin, there will be very serious
consequences. However, it is much more difficult to resist some sins when
the fall does not look all that bad. We think, "oh, this is not that big of
a deal," or "I'm not going to fall into this, I can handle it," or "Just
this once..." Just like with the stage workers, it is these types of sins
that bring down our guard and cause us to be spiritually careless. Satan
has done a great job in our culture by not blatantly scaring us away from
sin, but instead he gets us to bring down our guard and think we are not in
as much danger. He wants us to become careless spiritually. Once he gets
us to bring down our guard, we become much more comfortable and are in
incredible danger of falling into sin.
It is important to keep in mind the words found 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be of
sober spirit, be on the alert your adversary, the devil, prowls around like
a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your
faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished
by your brethren who are in the world."
If we are going to keep from falling, it is incredibly important to
"be of sober spirit" and to "be on the alert." This carries the idea being
prepared, attentive, and watchful to where we are, what we are doing, and
what is going on around us. If we are spiritually "alert" and "of sober
spirit," then we are much less likely to become careless and be deceived by
Satan and sin (2 Corinthians 3:11). The problem with the workers was when
they started to become carless with the path they were on. We too are on a
spiritual path, and we are told that the path that leads to life is narrow
(Matthew 7:13-14). Let's never get spiritually careless, and make sure we
stay firmly on the path that leads to heaven.

--Brett Petrillo