I was told I could sustain serious injuries. Repeatedly.
Recently, I was tasked with painting a garage door for my mom. My dad had bought a paint sprayer shortly before he passed that hadn’t been opened, so I was to use this machine to get the job done. My mom had been quoted $600 by a company to come do the job, so if I could accomplish it, she’d save a considerable amount of money.
After all, how hard could it be to paint a garage door?
It wasn’t long until I realized I had met my match. As I assembled the machine, I kept misunderstanding the instructions. Trying to get it to work was even more complicated—there were multiple steps just to prep it with paint. The instructions about the nozzle were not even remotely clear, so I had many attempts that sprayed paint in all the spots I didn’t want. Through YouTube videos, I eventually figured it out, but it ended up being quite a complex process.
Painting the garage door took 30 minutes—but I spent hours before and after just wrangling with the machine.
During all this, almost every step of the instructions warned me about the potential for bodily harm and death. It wanted me to ensure that none of the pressurized parts exploded and that I didn’t inject any paint directly into my skin. Over and over again, I was warned to be careful. Not wanting to be nicknamed “Nine-Fingered Jake,” I tried to follow the instructions as close as possible.
In the end, I didn’t die. I wasn’t hospitalized. I did not succumb to any damages except for the challenges to my ego. I heeded the warnings, and as I approached the task, I was acutely aware of what could go wrong if I didn’t.
If we think of Scripture as a manual for living, it too is filled with dire warnings to keep us safe. A lot of those boring laws that we skip and skim actually serve this function: to keep us safe from a myriad of physical, emotional, and spiritual harms. Like when messing around with a paint sprayer, if we don’t follow the instructions, there is a risk of danger.
Scripture stresses repeatedly that vigilance is key to avoiding danger. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The forces of evil are out there, and they are hungry. We have to be on guard for sinister schemes.
It reminds me of when I was briefly trapped in the middle of a jungle in Belize, waiting for the Chicken Bus to arrive. Since I knew Belize is home to eight different types of poisonous snakes, I constantly monitored the ground around me in case any creepy crawlies wanted to make me an afternoon snack. That’s the kind of vigilance we are called to—but about the spiritual realm.
Yet, we humans can often mistakenly believe we are being vigilant just by reading the instructions. “Knowing the information” is very different from “understanding the information.” Even the disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane, during Jesus’ darkest hour, overestimated their ability to stay alert. According to Matthew 26, Jesus asks them to stay and keep watch while he prays, only to find them asleep upon his return. He says, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).
Yet, they fall asleep again.
This humorous story about the disciples not being able to stay awake illustrates that our flesh often works against us, no matter how “willing” our spirit is. It reminds me of the time I stayed up until 3 a.m. helping a girl finish her paper due that day—the same day we scheduled our first date. Even with my willingness to impress her (I had finished my paper several days before the deadline), I still couldn’t manage to stay awake the entire night.
So, if our flesh betrays us so often despite our intentions and vigilance, what’s the solution?
The solution is putting on the full armor of God. When flesh fails us, we fortify ourselves with spiritual reinforcements.
The armor of God imagery in Ephesians 6 highlights how it's only through God that we can defeat Satan’s craftiest tricks.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
-Ephesians 6:11-13
Centering our life in God is the best way to stay vigilant even though we are encased in weak flesh. As the old kid’s song goes, we need to be “all wrapped up, all tied up, all tangled up in Jesus.” Moreover, as Ephesians 6 makes specific, we must establish prayer as a central practice in our lives. Ephesians 6:18 explicitly connects alertness with praying: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
We were never promised an easy life. Scripture is filled with warnings because there is DANGER AHEAD. Through the empowerment of God, we can overcome the faultiness of our flesh and remain sober-minded so when temptation strikes—and we are promised that it will—we are ready to stifle sin.
To quote my dad when he would send my brother and me off to school: “It’s a battle out there.” And if we are going to win, we need to first be aware that we are indeed at war.
Question of the Week
Leave your answer in the comment section below or reply to this email.
What do you do to remain “alert” to temptation?
My “Goings On”
I’m gathering a book launch team for my upcoming book AI for Church and Ministry which will come out March 1st. You can join our Facebook group here if you’d like to participate: https://www.facebook.com/groups/902916114657042/
I was recently featured in the Milwaukie Review - “Author credits Clackamas Country teachers with his publishing success.”
Super Jake book 2, “Super Jake and Kool Kenny” is out now!
Stay sober,
Jake Doberenz
Thanks for reading Faithful & Funny. Please share this publication with others!