Vulturized!

So the scenario is something like this: You have been struggling with something for a while, maybe you don’t even know what it is, but it has left you weak and vulnerable. Your heart is hurting, empty or angry and you are dealing with it the best you know how to deal with it. It doesn’t matter how pious we may appear in the eyes of others, we have all been here at some point in our lives. Sometimes we have lived at this point for most of our lives.

It is in this weakened state that it happens, someone smells your weakness and your vulnerability and it smells like their next meal. Your desperation becomes their hope, your sorrow becomes their potential joy, your discouragement becomes their future gloating and the circling begins. Vultures are patient, they don’t mind waiting for death to come because it signifies life to them. They are perceptive, able to pick up on the signs of weakness before demise actually comes. They are selfish, hoping for the destruction of a life instead of the restoration of it. Welcome to reality. You are being vulturized!

The original idea of vulturization comes from the devil himself. The Bible tells us that he roams like a lion seeking whom he may destroy. This is unrighteousness embodied, yet it not only exists in the violent criminal on the street, the hideous evil dictator, the greedy business magnate or the menacing abuser, but it also dwells behind the smiling face of the manipulator, the whispers of the gossiper, the self-ambition of the spiritual leader and the subtle betrayal of a teammate. Just as we have all been vulturized, we also have all vulturized another. Only when we deliberately shift our loyalties from our hungry egos to the living Lamb will we learn to become harmless as doves.