Incognito

“Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (II Corinthians 11:14)

Thoughts… C.S. Lewis said that we need to be careful about giving the devil too much credit. But I think we’d have to agree with Paul that he is a brilliant master of disguise. Most of us make the childish assumption that he will come at us wearing a red suit with a pointy tail holding a pitchfork, so to speak. We wrongly assume his attack will be a frontal one, where pure evil will be unleashed upon us in unmistakable ways.

How easy our job of resisting him would be if that were the case. The spiritual war we are in would be over in a heartbeat if it were that easy to identity our enemy and expose his strategy.

But that is not the case. He is the craftiest creature in all the universe—that’s why he was so easily able to deceive Adam and Eve. He is called the deceiver, afterall, for good reason. He is a liar, and the father of lies, Jesus said, and he’s pretty good at that too.

It might surprise you to know that the devil attends church with you every Sunday. He might even be sitting in the pew next to you. Sometimes, he shares the pulpit with the speaker. Karl Barth pointed out, “The devil may also make use of morality.” Perhaps upon further review, you’ve heard a few of those well-intended sermons.

It also might be a shock to you to know that Satan has a better grasp of the Bible than you do. Shaekespeare said, “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.” If he used God’s Word to tempt Jesus, what makes you think he won’t use it to tempt you.

The devil even uses righteousness for his evil plans. Rather than using only pure evil, Satan does much damage by twisting good just enough to cause it to miss the mark by an inch in our lives. Jonathan Edwards taught, “The devil can counterfeit all the saving operations and graces of the Spirit of God.” Perhaps his greatest victory in our lives is getting us to accept the good instead of the best.

Satan is smart, very smart indeed. While getting us to focus on what is “really evil”, he lulls us into the acceptance of what is only “kind of evil”. C.S. Lewis wrote, “The devil loves ‘curing’ a small fault by giving you a great one.” Paul shares this very concern the Corinthian Christians, “I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.” (II Corinthians 11:3) We need to be careful that nothing distracts us from what should be a pure and simple devotion to Jesus Christ—because Satan is really good at that.

Don’t underestimate the enemy. Don’t give him too much credit, but don’t make the mistake of thinking he is a rookie at this evil stuff. He’s pretty good.

But he’s not as good as the Holy Spirit who resides in you, giving you the gift of discernment, the will to resist and the power to overcome the enemy on all fronts. Take courage, because greater is he that is within you than he that is within the world.

So go give the devil a black eye today—he deserves it!

Prayer… Lord, you have overcome the evil one, and so shall I. I shall overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony. Give me strength this day to resist him and wisdom to see where he is operating in my life. At the end of this day, may his kingdom be diminished and yours extended because of my faithfulness.

One More Thing… “Like a good chess player, Satan is always trying to maneuver you into a position where you can save your castle only by losing your bishop.” —C.S. Lewis