Daily Jewel

by       Pastor J.T. Carnell,   McAlester, OK  

“Check the Batteries in Your Smoke Alarm” 

“He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.” – Proverbs 7:20

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'" The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil." – Genesis 3:1-5 (MSG)

One of the things that everyone is encouraged to do at least twice a year is that when it is time to move our clocks forward or back is to check the batteries in your smoke alarms.  Although smoke alarms when properly functioning do not prevent fires they can certainly reduce serious injury and even death in the event a fire occurs.  How many times do we hear in the news reports that when a fire has claimed a life or lives the last words are, “no smoke detectors were found in the home.”  The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reports that the vast majority of deaths and injuries that result from house fires each year could be been prevented with an adequate or working detector in the home.

There is also another factor as far as I am concerned having an adequate smoke detector in the house and it is the peace of mind knowing that I can go to bed at night without fear, wondering whether or not the alarm is working properly.  I would rather receive a rude awakening and have my life spared rather than lose my life to a horrible death, and one that could have easily been prevented.

I am going to do my best to resist the “temptation” (maybe a poor choice of words) to use the following words, but it is easy to point to something and say, “that is Satan’s greatest weapon,” only later to say again, “and here is the devil’s greatest tools.”  The truth is he has a number of methods at his disposal to get us off our guard, and the one in this verse is as effective as any there is and it is this:  the alarm has been disabled!  

In the verse from Proverbs, the woman tells her young naïve prey that there is no risk in being caught because her husband is gone for a long time.  There is plenty of time for their tryst and they can “sin in peace.” 

The serpent effectively did the same.  He simply deactivated the “alarm” that God had created when he told the woman that she could eat the fruit with no consequences, even though her initial response said otherwise.  Once he was able to get her to remove the batteries from her “fire” alarm, the deed was done.  And the result is we have been getting “burned” ever since!

The Holy Spirit was given to provide us with the ultimate alarm to detect when we are about to get “burned.”  If you find yourself constantly in the midst of the fire, namely, you find yourself in situations where you know you do not belong, or you are experiencing negative attitudes then I would ask, have you checked your spiritual batteries lately? 

Are you spending time with God in the Word?  I don’t mean a casual glance on Sundays but a concerted effort to be in it!  Are you spending time in prayer?  Not just bowing your head and listening to others pray but being intentional in spending time with God—just you and Him!  Are you firmly attached with the Body of Christ?  There is a direct association with Church attendance and one’s personal growth!  They work together!  Are you holding back giving to God?   Be it monetarily or in time or service, when you give to God He gives back in abundant measure!  These are ways that you keep your batteries fresh.

There are a number of factors that contribute to house fires, a few as a result of natural disaster:  Wildfires (as we have seen recently in the Oklahoma City area), lightning strikes, broken gas lines as the result of earthquakes—but most are caused by human error—and yet in each case there is a way to escape safely.  Stay up-to-date with the Lord and Savior!