August 3, 2024
Lester sauntered into my office with a new prize from Wal-Mart in one hand and several colored markers in the other with which he was prepared to do battle.
“Hello there, young man,” I greeted. “Watcha got?”
“A poster,” he replied. “It’s one of those that you can color.”
“Let me see that thing. Wow, a prince slaying a dragon with his sword! Dragons can sure be scary looking, huh?”
“Yeah, but I ain’t scared of no dragon.”
My first thought was to remind Lester that dragons breathe fire, and that he would almost certainly be burned alive in seconds if they were to ever do battle. Then I thought about the claws and teeth of Lester’s dragon. They could go right through his heart and out the other side. And, of course, there’s the dragon’s powerful tail. Whoosh, and a slap, and young Lester would be quickly added to my Thursday afternoon hospital visitation list.
Dragons can definitely be scary. Remember this description of a dragon from the Bible? “Another sign appeared in heaven─behold, a great, fiery, red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born” (Revelation 12:3-4).
This dragon pictures Satan who sought to destroy the baby Jesus soon after he was born. Satan failed to defeat our Lord, but today his fury has not waned. He still seeks to destroy everyone and everything in his path, but he reserves his most venomous attacks for those who are vocal followers of Jesus Christ. You are his number one target. He can think of little else than your destruction.
But Lester isn’t scared of a dragon, and why should he be? After all, this dragon can’t hurt the children of God. His fury became little more than a whimper when Jesus rose from the dead. Satan is toothless and completely powerless now that Jesus Christ has destroyed his gods of sin and death.
Revelation 12:10 reminds us, “Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
You aren’t scared of a dragon, are you? We are protected by the blood of the Lamb, so “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the dragon” (Ephesians 6:11). Are you wearing your armor today? The armor of God is impenetrable, withstanding Satan’s fire, teeth, claws and even his powerful tail.
“I ain’t scared of no dragon.”
Daniel McCabe