Part 4. To be prepared for persecution we have learned so far the need to clothe ourselves with humility and to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. In this lesson we will look at the next verse in which Peter tells us to be sober-minded and watchful because we have an enemy that prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
To understand the meaning of this we need to look at it in the context of persecution and suffering that Peter was writing from. That context is found in areas like Syria, Iran and Iraq where followers of the Islam religion view Christians as infidels who are spiritually polluting their communities and need to be eliminated. Those who literally follow the Koran are terrorist, like ISIS, who see their goal of making Islam the religion of the world. These terrorist seek out Christians and primarily give them the choice of converting to Islam, dying or escaping. Many of these Christians are Muslims who have converted and have a passion to share their faith. With terrorist seeking out these passionate infidels there is a critical need to be sober-minded and watchful to put off as long as possible being caught. Remember, Jesus said that it was on account of him that they hate you. Remember, even before Jesus was born they tried to kill him. The world has always hated him and does today with increased intensity. Therefore be sober-minded and watchful or you may lose your head sooner than later.
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