You see it before you. A mother, biking with her child, along a busy road. A nurse in intensive care. A goalkeeper during a soccer match, when the attack comes toward him. A soldier, dropped in the enemy’s territory behind the frontline. Watchful. Concentrated right up to your fingertips; alert; both eyes wide open. Danger looms. Anything can happen at any moment. You have to be on guard all the time. 

This word is used quite often in the Bible. It is used by Jesus when it is concerns his return: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time [of my return] will come.” And it is used by the apostles in their letters: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The Canons of Dort zoom in on this watchfulness. How much danger are you still in, as a child of God? Jesus’ message has reached you, you came to faith, you are converted, you try to live as good a life as possible, the Spirit is stronger than everything and everyone. What can happen to you? Are you still in danger or are you high above every doubt and sin?

The final chapter is about the endurance of the “saints.” It start lifelike. “He [God] certainly sets free from the dominion and slavery of sin, but not entirely in this life from the flesh and the body of sin.” That is recognizable in practice. You have your good intentions, your beautiful desires, your strong moments. But it can quickly change to bitter disappointment. Your intentions die because of powerlessness. Or because of complacency. Or because of sin. You are certainly not the only one. “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:19). We are in the good company of Paul.

Even after Jesus has taken hold of your life, you are still yourself. Even though sin no longer dominates your life, and Satan no longer has a licence to tyrannize, sin is still in your blood somewhere. Our spirit might be willing, but our own flesh is weak. Sensitive toward egoism, pride, self-preservation, self-enrichment, fraud, consumerism, pornography, gossip, individualism, and so on. And the devil effortlessly finds our Achilles’ heel. Thus, God’s children are still very vulnerable.

Believers have to “constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptation” (Canons of Dort Chapter V, Article 4). As soon as you relax, you will fall, sooner or later, by a sin that weakens you from inside or by a temptation that comes to you from outside. For example, look at David or Peter. Isn’t it recognizable? Just like that, you slip. Just losing attention for a moment. Too little continual praying. And just like that, you get carried away by a wrong idea. A dormant desire. A rising urge.

So stay vigilant! Watch out. Keep your eyes open. Do not lose your focus. Constantly observe what is going on around you. Like a soldier on guard. Like a soldier during his mission in the enemy’s territory. And even then… God lets you fall. With the righteous permission of God, you are drawn away or stray from the right way (Canons of Dort Chapter V, Article 4). You ask yourself why. Maybe to prevent me from becoming haughty? To let me understand my weakness? To impress upon me the extent of his grace and the power of his faithfulness?

The Canons of Dort also defend us against an error: whether you will persevere after your conversion is mostly up to you! God may give you enough energy, but you still have to choose it yourself. Perseverance is a condition that you must meet yourself. And so, you are thrown back on yourself. Whether you will arrive safely in the end is up to you. Thus, it is a form of self-overestimation, and of underestimating the enemy. Hence, the exhortation to always be vigilant. Apparently, we run the risk of losing our focus. Not observing our surroundings enough. Being involved in a life without God. Making plans in which you hardly take the return of Jesus into account. 

So, stay alert and keep praying. Do not trust in your own strength but call on God’s nearness. Because if there is one who is watchful, it is God. That word comes back many times in Psalm 121: God watches. Day and night. For the very reason that he sees through our weaknesses and recognizes the danger, he is constantly alert. And for the very reason that I can slack off, and I can fall into a terrible sin, he watches over me. Believers cannot persevere if they are left to themselves. But God is faithful: “[He] mercifully confirms them in the grace once conferred upon them and powerfully preserves them in that grace to the end” (Canons of Dort Chapter 5, Article 3). My endurance does not come from me.

In my weakness, God’s power is accomplished.