Recently I purchased an artificial tree for my bedroom. It stands about six feet tall and sits in a large round pot inside a colorful wicker basket. It makes the room seem larger and gives the area the added decoration it so desperately needed. It also makes for an interesting conversation piece.
While walking through a department store a few days later I saw the same tree being used in a fashion display covered with tiny white lights. It was beautiful. On the way home I stopped by the hardware store and found the same set only in amber. I wove my new string of lights through the branches and leaves and around the trunk with special care and thoughtful spacing. The room now glows with peaceful and warm shadows.
Railroad crossing flashers also use the color amber to alert motorists to oncoming freight and speeding passenger trains. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th Edition describes amber as, “a variable color averaging a dark orange yellow.” It is the perfect selection for a sign warning of imminent danger.
The Bible also gives us warnings in order to escape from the devious and cunning master of evil. Read Peter’s instruction to his fellow Christians,
“Be alert and of sound mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8
There are no amber signals alerting the faithful to the ruthless designer whose only goal is to eternally separate us from our God. He circles with silent and unrelenting authority. This snarling beast seeks to snare His gullible prey into a life of suffering and hopeless despair. He joyfully reacts with devilish pleasure as the entrapped are led in a frenzied procession of twisted torture.
But God gave us the instructions to combat this deadly foe,
“Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7
Are you listening?
Ephesians 6:13-16
Manna and Coffee 