When people who love you become a danger to you …

It seems when either deception or danger creeps into our lives, it’s often disguised. There’s not a siren sounding or a bright flashing light to warn us of potential danger.

Such is the case regarding the danger of snakes as experienced by Glynda Lomax:

I live in Arkansas. I LOVE when autumn comes and fall leaves drift down on autumn breezes. But in Arkansas, you have to be careful about those leaves on the ground because some of them conceal serpents.

There are lots of copperhead snakes here. Copperheads are venomous pit vipers that strike you as soon as they sense heat when any part of your body comes near them. And they blend in perfectly with the beautiful fall leaves. And when they sense a predator is near, they will sometimes freeze in place, making them blend in even better, and making it tougher to discern the danger.

And they don’t even have the good manners to rattle at you like rattlesnakes in Texas do.

So be careful of those serpents that hide behind beauty, waiting for a chance to strike at you and bring destruction. It only takes one step in the wrong direction.

Most of us are aware of the potential danger some snakes can be, whether it’s the kind that crawl on the ground or walk on two legs. But when we think of something — or someone — as a possible danger or “trap” to us, we usually don’t think of the people who know us best and love us most.

But there is a time when even the people closest to us, the people who know us best, the people who claim genuine love for us, can be a dangerous trap to us.

When is that?

This possible dangerous trap from people who love you is revealed to us in scripture when one of Jesus’ closest friends and most devoted followers suddenly became a danger to Him:

“From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. ‘Heaven forbid, Lord,’ he said. ‘This will never happen to you!'” Matthew 16:21-22.

Pausing there, so far it seems that Peter is simply reacting with well-intended concern for Jesus’ well-being. What could be wrong with that?

“Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s,'” Matthew 16:23.

What was wrong with Peter’s “reprimand” of Jesus — and the danger that people who love us most in life can be — is when someone attempts to influence us from a human point of view, rather than from God’s.

In fact, this is such a danger that, in the moment, Jesus refers to Peter as Satan.

Remember that Eve led humanity into sin by listening to a serpent’s point of view rather than God’s.

Sometimes people who love us and care about us, thinking they have our best interests in mind, will sometimes try to influence us contrary to God’s Word or God’s will for us. That is dangerous trap which must always be avoided. The danger is heightened in that, we might expect others who don’t know us or don’t care about us to be willing to mislead us, but we don’t expect that from the people who love us most.

And that makes their attempt to influence us with human viewpoint all the more dangerous — we’re usually not on guard for a trap from the people we’re closest to.

Which teaches us a lesson: Beware of the viewpoint of ANYONE attempting to influence you. If it isn’t in harmony with the Word of God, then they are, at least in the moment, a danger to you. Don’t let anyone led you away from God’s viewpoint on anything in your life.

Scotty