Know Your Enemy

June 7

Read: Genesis 3:1-19

Know Your Enemy

“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” (v.4)

This is the primary lie of the enemy; “this sin that the Lord says brings death… that’s not true. Surely, you are not going to die.” This is an accusation and a lie rolled into one - the quintessential work of the Devil. Satan’s goal is to convince you that the darkness is “light” and that the “light” is no good… no fun… not worth walking in. Satan wants to make evil things “good” and good things “evil”. Satan wants lies to be truths, and the truth to be seen as a lie. To align with Satan is to buy into this lie.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23) Sin WILL kill you… you WILL die. Contrary to what Satan wants you to believe. There is no life to be found outside of the Lord. Any life that we see has its origin… its genesis… in the Lord. You know this - in your gut. We have seen it all around us. I bet you can all imagine an example of where this thing that was supposed to “bring life” actually brought DEATH. An affair that brings death. Alcoholism that brings death. Trying to escape through substance abuse … death. What about the more subtle examples? One might say to themselves, “if I just had more money and power, then I would be happy and full of life”. Yet, look around at how miserable some of the most rich and powerful people are. There is no life to be found outside of the Lord.

“it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” (Heb. 9:27) This life will come to an end sooner or later. We will all eventually die or be taken by the Lord into the next life at Jesus’ second coming. Either way, this life will end. There will be a “death” to this timeline. In that sense we ALL experience “death”… we all die. We are afraid to think of it. Apart from Christ, we are ALL life long SLAVES to the fear of dying. (cf. Heb 2:14,15) Memento mori. When we consider our own death, it causes us to contemplate about what is most important…most real… most worthy… most true. None of those are things what the enemy wants to happen. Satan does not want us to consider our own death, so he lies and says, “you will not surely die.”

It is a tragedy to buy into this lie. Don’t do it. Don’t take the bait. Everyday - over and over again - we consider partaking in something that the Lord has tried to warn us about. The Lord has told us, “don’t eat from that tree… it will kill you.” And yet, the enemy seeks to convince us… our flesh compels us… and we say to ourselves, “this isn’t going to kill me. I am not really going to die from this.” This is the ploy of the Devil - convincing us that the darkness is “light”. Convincing us that God is “holding out on us”. In many ways, the world has taken hold of this thinking. It is embracing ways of living and thinking that lead to death, but pretending that there is actually life to be had. There is reason to be hopeful though. Jesus has made a way. He opens our eyes to the lie. He brings us LIFE even though we have consumed death. Jesus forgives. Jesus holds out his hand to carry us to the other side. What are YOU banking on to bring you life? Love you guys. - JDP