Heads Up and Sometimes Down

The noticeable eight-foot-long glass-doored cabinets mounted to the ceiling above the counter’s peninsula are a beautiful work of craftsmanship but hazardous. Short and tall people can escape bopping their heads on the corners, but a medium-height person is at risk when working at that end of the counter.

We’re not to walk around with our heads down, cowering in fear, but upright, yet not in pompous pride, but alert and watchful. Some things, like a tree’s low-laying branches (or cabinets), won’t move; neither will the evils of this world; they abound, and no one is exempt from their attempts to render harm. That’s why we must be mindful of when it’s time to duck and when to wisely and safely lift our heads and move forward. Paul urges us:

“Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; quit you like men; be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

Believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have many enemies. We must be vigilant in guarding our right-living with God like a sentinel standing watch over the camp, watching the enemies’ movements. What or who is the enemy? Believers face error-filled biblical doctrines, false teachers, opposers of the Gospel, and divisions among fellow believers. Sometimes it is the wrong preconceived interpretations of truth in the way. 

With confidence in God, the apostle tells us to be alert, courageously stand firm in and defend God’s Word, living it and steadfastly guarding against the enemy’s tactics. Sometimes the foe to protect ourselves from is our fleshly desires to sin when temptations knock at our door. We must always be ready if we want Jesus to find us faithful—we don’t know when the Lord will return (Matt 24:42).