Lies of the Devil

https://odb.org/MY/2022/05/02/father-of-lies-2

Part of the process of living the life of faith is to contend with voices that seek to divert our attention away from God. It could be the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life. Or it could be the pure temptations of the world, to find our place in the world and not in God. To focus on earning a living than to build our spiritual lives or to do well in our career and forgoing our ministry and service for God.

The voices could be our own self talk with our old self trying to assert dominance or the devil planting sinful and unrighteous thoughts in our minds. The devil is not able to read our thoughts but by observing our behaviour and speech and what we read and see on the Internet or TV, he could guess where we are headed and thus plant thoughts to lead us along the pathway of destruction. So if we watch porn, the devil can see that and will plant lustful thoughts into our minds so that we continue to indulge in this habit and then condemn us for our unrighteousness and thus bring us on a guilt trip of self condemnation. The devil is a bit like Google analytics, just that he is much craftier and much more experienced as he has seen and observed human behaviour for thousands and thousands of years. And I believe that Job was indeed one of the rarest of our species. In fact no one can beat the devil at this game since he is the one that led man to his first sin. He created this misery for the human race and is hell bent to make us hell bound.

Unlike Google analytics or other recommendation engines that track our behavioural patterns for commercial benefit or the espionage agencies for national security interests, the devil’s intention is to draw us away from God. Period. Once we are on the indulgent and guilt cycle, we will be less effective for God. We will be demoralised as we demonise ourselves. We will end up being our own accuser. We condemn ourselves even as we know there is no condemnation in Christ as we are washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. We will become less and less the person God wants or has planned for us. We will be distracted from God’s plans and purposes for our lives. In fact, if we continue to indulge in the vile thoughts of the devil, we might end up on the wider road to destruction. We will choose not to go on in the more difficult narrow path. We will slowly but surely take the path of least resistance. We will become like water streaming with the flow of the river rather than salmon swimming upstream against the currents as Christ fills us with the waters from His everflowing and overflowing river of life.

Do not believe in or be taken in by the lies of the devil. Do not be captivated by his pretty and enticing landscape. It is a deception and a facade as underneath all that is darkness and gnashing of teeth. The devil will present the world like a holiday resort but the reality of life is actually more like that of the resort workers. It’s a daily struggle meeting ends meet, raising families, putting bread on the table. Life is not always enjoying the sunrise and the sunset while sipping champagne at the pool! It’s an illusion and a lie!

God’s promises of the new heaven and new earth and the new Jerusalem are however real and for eternity. If we are already on that train to eternal life having been given the ticket by the death and resurrection of Jesus, why disembark now and start all over again? Read the Word, serve Him, give our time and attention to Christ, busy ourselves in God’s work and we will have no time to entertain and indulge in the deceptive illusionary fancy world of the devil. Focus on the fundamentals of our faith, keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, not on the father of lies! Resist the devil and he will flee from you!