This is Not Eden
“You won’t understand your life, you won’t see clearly what has happened to you or how to live forward from here, unless you see it as battle.”
~ John Eldredge, Waking the Dead
It is very easy to fall into this mistaken belief that life in Christ is all about frolicking through meadows and picking flowers and warm hugs and butterflies. This is nice and good, yet it blinds us to the fact that life in Christ, here and now, is battlefield Earth.
We are no longer in Eden, we are at war. If we allow ourselves to be blinded to this fact, then we are playing the fool. We are letting down not just ourselves, but our fellow Christians.
Life makes sense in light of this reality. The suffering, the difficulty, the seemingly endless failures. Although it is not the result of a disinterested God, but rather our lukewarm approach to our faith. And we know what God has to say about lukewarm Christians (Rev 3:16). If you’re not for us, than you’re against us.
A Forgotten Enemy
“Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour.”
~ 1 Peter 5:8
I remember the early days of my infant faith, I seemed to hear so much mention of the devil. It used to bother me that there was almost more talk about him then God. Yet, looking back I realize that we need to be reminded of this Enemy, who is real and actively seeking our destruction.
“Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”
~ Ephesians 6:10-12
I believe that one of the devil’s most common tactics is to make us forget he is even exists. Too often we put to rest any fear of the devil by fancying instead a vague notion of a force of evil. He is actively engaged not just in making our lives miserable, but in actively waging war upon life. We see the fruits of his labor everyday. The evening news is basically the Gospel of Death—rape, murder, and every crime against humanity we could ever imagine. Look at the attacks on the Church over the centuries—scandal, schism, division. He has turned us on each other and he is laughing while he watches us.
Getting Back into Battle
So what are we to do? Is there hope? Can we win? Of course. We know that the war is won, but the battle rages on. And we are the soldiers of God’s armies. We must take up our weapons and put on our armor.
“Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
~ Ephesians 6:13-17
Jesus, our general, has equipped us for this mission. We have been prepared. We have all the support we need in the saints and angels. Our Lord walks with us, renewing us in the sacraments, and sending us back out into battle, not just to be good people, but good soldiers. If we don’t fight back we will be overtaken. And the first step is waking up and realizing we are at war.
Question: How has the devil attacked you personally in recent days? In what ways have you countered his attacks? Have you actively attempted to fight back?