Jewel # 64 (July 22, 2010)

To My dear grandchildren

Playing with Danger

What a beautiful day, Faye thought as she looked out the window.  Then she saw something that wasn't so beautiful.  It was Tommy, her cat.  That bad cat!" she exclaimed. "He's caught another chipmunk!"

Feeling sorry for the chipmunk, Faye ran out into the front yard and grabbed Tommy by the scruff of the neck, forcing him to drop the chipmunk.

All of us, from the time we are born, are so much like the chipmunk in the cat's mouth.  God tells us that Satan is the god and prince of this world, and we are under his power until the Lord Jesus sets us free.  We know that chipmunk could not have freed itself from Tommy's jaws, and we cannot free ourselves from Satan's power either.  Only the Lord Jesus can free us, because He broke Satan's power when He died on the cross.  

"Through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."  

(Hebrews 2:14-15)

The little chipmunk was still very lively and didn't seem to be hurt.  He ran a few feet and then turned to face the cat.  Sitting on his little haunches, he scolded the cat, almost as if he was daring the cat to catch him.

You can guess what the cat did.  Of course, he soon had the chipmunk in his mouth again.

Faye freed the chipmunk a second time, and then she scolded Tommy.  But still the chipmunk didn't run far away.

Sometimes young people act like that chipmunk - they seem to love dangerous things and to play with sin.  They are like those in Proverbs 2:13 "who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk  in the ways of darkness."  But God gives the warning, 

"Go not in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."  (Proverbs 4:14-15)

It wasn't until Faye took Tommy indoors that the chipmunk ran away.  But she couldn't help wondering how long that chipmunk would live if it kept on daring its enemies.

God gives more warnings about our enemy:  "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).  It is so dangerous to fool around with Satan.  Trust in the Lord Jesus who loves you and died for you and escape from the enemy and the wrath to come.