One of my students shared this week about serving in the city during the Thanksgiving holidays. A few teachers and a bunch of teenagers spent several nights in a church and went out to feed the poor, encourage the hopeless, and invite all to follow Jesus. My student shared with his teenage classmates the clear difference he saw between two opposite kingdoms. So much is obvious: light/darkness, order/chaos, peace/anxiety, freedom/bondage, life/death… but at the end of his talk, he made an interesting statement. “The devil is just as active here where we live as in the inner city.”
I think we would all agree, but we don’t think about it too much because the enemy’s tactics are subtle and the results may not be as obvious: sincerity/hypocrisy, kindness/judgment, contentment/greed, generosity/stinginess, passionate/lukewarm… As always, Jesus is our Answer… He must be my Center, my Source, my Life. If I know I am lukewarm, the solution is not to pretend to be passionate… then I would be a lukewarm hypocrite. No, I must go to Jesus and confess a cold heart. He is the God of holy fire. He can make me passionate and there will be nothing fake about it. If I am consumed with ‘stuff’, I must go to Jesus who reminds me that even gaining the whole world does no good for eternity. When I experience his priceless love, I’ll want to share this love and my ‘stuff’ with those in need. If my kindness is lacking, I need to sit at the feet of Jesus, the Fountain of kindness. Then I must do exactly as He instructs. He’ll show me how to live while molding me into his image.
As we clothe ourselves with Christ, we have everything we need to stand strong in the kingdom of Light. His truth is around the waist (“I am the way and the truth and the life” – Jn 14:6). His righteousness protects the heart as a breastplate (“He is our righteousness” – I Cor 1:30). His faith extinguishes the arrows of the evil one (“He is the author and perfecter of our faith” – Heb 12:2). The gospel of peace makes our feet ready to go anywhere He leads (“For He himself is our peace” – Eph 2:14). His salvation protects the mind and gives us confidence to come to the Father (“He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” – Heb 5:9). And He is the sword that cannot be defeated (“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” – Jn 1:1). (See Eph 6:10-18)
“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all that He has made. As far as the East is from the West, that is how far He has removed our transgressions from us. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord.”
“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13-14)