Don't Play Around a Lion
In 1870, the James Robinson & Co. Circus and Animal Show wanted to drum up some publicity for a performance in Middletown, Missouri. As the clowns, circus performers, and animals paraded through town, the circus band played along while standing on the roof of a cage…that held two hungry lions.
Despite concerns that the roof wasn’t strong enough to support ten grown men, circus bosses ordered the band to keep on playing. So they did…right up until the moment the roof caved in. The musicians plunged into the den of hungry lions, who tore them limb from limb. Ten band members started the parade; only three survived.
You don’t play around with a lion.
In 1st Peter 5:8, we are warned, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Yet, we often will play alongside the Devil, thinking that we aren’t going to fall into his clutches. The barricades we erected will stay strong… till they don’t. And the lion tears us apart.
Don’t play around the Devil. He is too dangerous. Don’t give him an opportunity (Eph.4:27). Don’t run with the Devil; make him run from you!