Alarms

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Matthew 10:28 ESV 

Do you ever take the time to notice how many "things" we guard closely in everyday life? We have smoke alarms in our homes to protect us from fire, we have burglar alarms on our doors to scare away intruders, and we have alarms on our phones to wake us up or tell us when we are running late. We even have alarms in place to alert us when our bank accounts or credit cards are used by someone other than us. In short, alarms are a necessary part of our everyday lives and they do a pretty good job of guarding the things we deem important or valuable. 

We, as a people, spend a lot of time and money protecting our "stuff." I am one of those people that tolerate a lot of things but I have a hard time tolerating a thief. But the irony of this feeling we get from those alarms in our lives is that Jesus told us the thing we should fear the most in this life isn't people who can steal us blind or commit bodily harm on us. It is the one that we can't see, the one that lies in wait on every single one of us that we should take care against. 

Friends, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an alarm on your car, your home, or your bank account, but when the things that you protect are more important than the One that you serve, that is when the enemy will strike out from the darkness and expose you. God's word tells us that it is far more important to guard our hearts than our homes. We have to build up spiritual alarms in our hearts through prayer, the reading of God's word, and meditation on what it tells us. We are to build up spiritual alarms in ourselves that protect us from corruption from the things in this world. Things, that in the end, ultimately won't matter.