Tigers

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13).

My tour guide held my hand as he led me to one of the napping tigers at the Kanchanaburi Tiger Sanctuary. I squatted near it and touched its fur ever so lightly, so I could get the required tourist-petting-the-tiger shot. There were several other tigers there: all matched with different tourists and all chained and napping. The scene was peaceful, calm, and serene. A person could almost get comfortable with the tigers.

There's a spiritual lesson here. The devil is represented in the Bible as a roaring lion, but sometimes he's a sleeping lion too. His relaxed posture draws us near. We feel, "there's nothing dangerous here". We take a few steps in his direction thinking that we are safe. Sometimes the media helps us with this as it normalizes sin, or our friends help the process by minimizing sin. We allow "little sins" like overeating or dwelling on our discontentment to prepare us for sin.


We have to remember that while Jesus is said to sing "softly and tenderly", so does the devil.