Walking in the Light, March 8, 2009

Walking in the Light

     Whether we’re talking about sports, board games, video games or warfare, a basic principle of strategy is knowing your opponent. In order to defeat your adversary you have to know something about them; their strengths, their weaknesses and their tendencies. The better you know your opponent, the better chance you have of withstanding their attacks and ultimately conquering them. Once you have gotten inside their head, it’s much easier to devise a strategy and prepare for battle.

     Ignorance is costly when it comes to battling our adversary. We must know what we’re up against (2 Cor. 2:10 & 11). Knowing yourself is vital as well. As Sun Tzu stated in his classic book, The Art of War, “If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.” You had better know yourself because Satan certainly does. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your tendencies. He knows what tempts you. He knows where you are unprotected. However, he also knows that you have the strongest, most powerful, most perfect weapon at your disposal. You are a part of an army that can NEVER be defeated so long as you follow the commander.

     Knowing as much as we can about our enemy is vital in the war for our soul. We can and should gather information. We need to study his tactics and tendencies as relayed to us in scripture. We must “put on the full armor of God” as Paul exhorts Christians to do in Ephesians 6:11. But we can do one more thing as well. We can put ourselves in his shoes and try to look at the world through his eyes. If you were the devil, what would you do?

     If I were the devil, I would...

            *  Sanitize sin & justify immorality.

            *  Blur the line between right & wrong & convince man that there are no absolutes.

            *  Remove God from the public square & make it almost impossible to even mention His name.

            *  Attack the family; making divorce acceptable, easy & even fashionable.

            *  Persuade the church to abandon Biblical authority in favor of personal tastes.

            *  Use the television, radio, magazines & the internet as my canvas for spreading lewd, obscene & graphic material.

            *  Dull the hearts & minds of Christians and, thus, lessen their influence.

     In other words, if I were the devil, I would simply keep things moving in the direction they are already heading!

Chris McCurley