Readings: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11; Psalm 27; Luke 4:31-37
The life of a Christian ought to be a life of constant vigilance. We must be awake and alert in the Spirit and let our warning signal be “ON” always. This is what St Paul tells the Thessalonians in today’s first reading. They should not expect precise warnings on times and seasons. As such, they must be constantly vigilant, awake in the Spirit, sober and discerning.
Dear friends, today I want to call our attention to three areas of our lives that we must be awake and discerning, three areas that we must be careful lest we allow the enemy to wreak havoc in our lives.
I. The people we allow into our lives.
Some people come to us with fine words and a sweet attitude, they could be physically attractive but then they are spiritually dangerous to our lives, they distract focus, obstruct progress and impede destiny.
People are not always who we think they are. Some people are enemies of anointing, some are unrepentant betrayers, and some are on a mission to implicate, indict, manipulate and destroy. Many people today are those feeding their parasites unknown to them.
In the Gospel of today, a man was always coming to the synagogue like any other worshipper. Who would have known that in that very nice-looking, worship-loving, joyful-singer is an evil spirit?
If we are not awake and discerning, we may end giving the wrong people access to our inner sanctuary, once they gain access, they defile it and leave us not just estranged from God but completely beside our blessed self.
II. What looks like a blessing.
Sometimes a trap looks like a blessing. Sometimes the enemy tempts us with what looks like opportunities or prayers answered but it is not God’s way, God’s will or God’s plan. We must be awake and discerning otherwise we fall into the pranks of the devil who wraps a disaster with the sheet of favour. It is not everything that has the appearance of a blessing that is actually a blessing, it may look like God’s gift but could be a Greek gift, watch out for whose signature is underneath the gift.
III. Small faults or Hidden sins.
We need to be very careful and watchful of what we call small faults, little, venial or hidden sins. These provide cracks for the enemy to penetrate and upset our spiritual edifice. Many people are living in shame, disgrace and completely off-balance because they allowed what looked like a little sin and gradually they fell headlong until they become slaves and lions in the cage of Satan.
Dear friends, the Lord is saying to us today, beware, be awake, be discerning, be sensible, do not presume or lose your guard spiritually, the devil watches for when we are asleep or most vulnerable to strike, as far as we are in this world, we are church militant, a militant who sleeps risks more than he/she enjoys.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on August 31, 2021