By Gina Caswell Kelly
There are people in this world who do not think the devil is real. Trust me. He is very real and is roaming about the earth right now. In 1 Peter, Peter writes, “The devil prowls like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.” In the book of Job, the devil says about himself that he has been roaming the earth. He is still roaming the earth to this day. He wants what God has. In fact, that was the very reason he was cast out from heaven. He wanted to be equal with God. Obviously, that desire remains with him even to this day.
In The Chosen, the series about the life of Christ, one scene that always gives me chills is that just before Judas betrays the Christ. Jesus looks at him and says, “He has you now.” Judas replies, “Who has me?” And Jesus’ chilling answer is, “Not Me.” Oh my goodness. I pray that He will never be able to say that about me or my family or friends. I do not want to be “had” by the devil. I want to always be in the palm of my Savior’s hand.
But, the problem today is the subtlety in the way the devil works. The devil does not have to win you over or “have” you. He only has to dilute you or water down your beliefs. We are seeing this more and more in our world and in our own nation. We are seeing the unchangeable truths of God watered down to fit more with the norms of the day. We are hesitant to call sin what it is in any form. We are so afraid of hurting feelings or being seen as different, that we just go along with whatever is going on. This is not what we are called to do.
Now hear me in this. I am not saying we are to be judges among people. We all have sin in our lives. We should never think we are better than another simply because we sin differently than they do. There are sins that we like to see as worse than others, but in God’s eyes, sin is sin. Jesus died on the cross for all sins equally. He did not hurt worse for a sin that you think is worse. Your sin was not just a paper cut on His finger during the process. Your sin was that nail through His hand. My sin was that nail through His hand.
We have got to stand strong on God’s Word and in our faith. We cannot let the devil continue to dilute the truth. We have to reach our world for Christ and we have to be serious and intentional about it. The devil is roaming the earth, but God walks WITH us. And God is so much stronger! The God we serve is a strong and mighty God! Tell His story to those around you. It will make a difference!
