Preying

No, it's not a misspelling.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

Going with Peter's simile, what does it take to become the prey of a lion?

Lions are opportunists. The first place a lion looks for a meal is on the fringe. Lions like to get close to their prey and catch them off guard. It's odd, though. If you watch a nature video with lions hunting, you can usually pick out their prey when they do because it's quite obvious who is standing at the outside -- easy pickin's. So, the first place to become prey is to stay on the fringe. Don't get in the middle. Stay on the outside.

Lions are also opportunists in their targeting. While they will certainly take down the closest prey, they really like to find the weaker ones. Find the young ones, the immature, the sick or dying. Find the ones who lack the ability to fight back or flee successfully. Those are the best targets for lions. Prey animals typically know this and defend their young by putting them in the middle of the heard rather than on the periphery. The next way to become prey, then, is to allow yourself to become weak and, in that condition, to avoid the protection of the group.

Lions like to hunt one animal at a time. Sometimes they even use deception to do it. While they will often spring from the grass and drag down the target, sometimes they will put the old "toothless" guy out there and have him roar, scaring the prey into the jaws of the younger members of the pride. The best thing to do, by whatever means, is to hunt individuals. Separate them from the group. In the protection of a herd, prey is hard to catch. Off on their own, they're much easier. To become prey, then, allow yourself to be cut off from the rest. Isolation is the best way to get dragged down by Satan.

We are called "the Church", "the Body of Christ". Christianity is not a "Lone Ranger" religion; it is a community. We are warned against neglecting to gather for fellowship. We are told to be in discipleship. We are designed to be interconnected. Satan's technique, however, is that of the lion. Find the ones on the fringe. Pick the weak ones. Isolate them from the rest. And we play his game. We are told, for instance, "confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16), but we shun that concept because we know that the group would certainly put us out if they knew that we wrestled with that problem. The truth is more likely that many wrestle with that problem (whatever it is) and we're simply succumbing to Satan's ploy.

I don't want to be prey. I'd rather be prayed for. So what does it take to get into a group of people who are willing to recognize that all have weaknesses and all need to be protected and excluding people because they struggle with sin would require that everyone be excluded? What does it take to find the protection of the group rather than the condemnation? I'd rather not become prey. Are you one who is in the middle of it, or are you on the fringe? Are you one that gathers in the weak and helpless, or do you push them out? Where do you go for protection of the group? I ask because I'd rather not become prey.