Pack Your Baggage, HoneySample

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you (2 Tim. 1:12-14). 

Did you notice Paul used the word guard? To guard means “to watch, to keep awake, to be vigilant, watchful, spiritually alert, and to be intent upon.”  Notice that Paul is saying he knows God can guard him. He also reminds Timothy that the Holy Spirit within him is there to keep Timothy strong and protected. So both God and the Christian, with the power of the Holy Spirit, have a role in guarding the heart. St Augustine said, “Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.” We need to be involved in the guarding. The enemy wants nothing more than to steal what is your rightful gift—the gift of peace, joy, and abundant living! 

The book of Proverbs is filled with many good guidelines and recommendations regarding wise living. In Proverbs 7:13-23, Solomon writes about the enticement of the harlot, an example of the enemy going for the weakest area. The harlot entices the man with promises of pleasures and “with her flattering lips she seduces him . . . He does not know that it will cost him his life” (v. 21, 23). Just as the harlot entices the naïve and weak man into her lair, so the enemy attempts to entice the believer away from abundant life. He knows that enticement will not only cause sin, pain, and a lack of peace, but the result will often be a Christian who carries baggage, weighed down so that she lives an encumbered, ineffective, and unfruitful Christian life. 

We need to be on guard and recognize the destructive work the enemy is performing, enticing us not just to sin but also to self-pity, surrender of defeat, baggage hauling, and helplessness. We need to remember where he comes from and learn to recognize and identify the smell of smoke!