Satan's "One" Objective

One of the best ways to get people to tell you what they believe is to ask them questions. It won't take long before they are able to explain to you what they believe or prove to themselves they cannot explain why they believe as they do. Just today, a friend of mine asked a group of us the following question: "What is the "one" thing the enemy(devil) wants Christians to do?" Here is just a sampling of the answers that were given.

• Disobedient
• Lust
• Doubt God
• Quit
• Die

Now these are not wrong answers. But, all the answers focus around the individuals behavior. And, if the devil can get you focused on your behavior he has you right where he wants you to be. Why? Because when you are focused on what you are doing, you are not focused on God and what He has done for you in Jesus Christ. You could almost ask the opposite question, "What is the one thing God wants Christians to do?" The answers would be something like, "Obey," "Get married," "Believe God," "Keep Going" and "Live." Two of these answers, believe God and live are on the right track. However, without the proper context they can also be incorrectly defined by through the prism of the individual's behavior.

The one thing that the devil wants Christians to do is to continue to "eat" from the wrong tree. The devil deceived Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told them that "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen 3:5)." This same lie is repeated throughout Christianity to this day. Christians won't say directly that we need to be like God. Rather, we cloak it in similar sounding language. For example, we say we need to be more "Christlike." Well, Jesus was God. Or we say, we have to stop sinning. The only one who never sinned was Jesus and He was God. Perhaps, we say we need to be better Christians. That usually means we need to stop sinning and be more like Jesus. It is the same thing. And that usually means we need to define what is good and obey it and define what is evil and repent of it. In order to do that we then end up putting ourselves under law. That could be the Mosaic Law, the "Law" of Jesus (i.e. Sermon on the Mount), the Law of our particular church or denomination or our own individual Law which is a combination of all of the above. All we end up doing is dedicating ourselves to a life we can never live while trying to obtain blessings and favor from God He didn't come to give. And, in the process, missing out on all that He did come to give us.

The Christian life is not about submitting to laws, rules, tenants or doctrines designed to modify our behavior. Nor is it about trying to do these things out of "love" for God. We were not created to be obedient to laws. Adam and Eve only had one "law" to obey, not to eat from the wrong tree, and they failed. And they were sinless and lived in a perfect world. Yet, we believe the lie of the devil and are deceived into thinking that we can be "perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Mat 5:48)" in our sinful bodies and in a cursed world. It is the prescription for a miserable life of trying to get from God through our actions what we have already received from Him through faith in Jesus Christ. God created us to be indwelt by Him. Everything we need for life and godliness (2 Ptr 1:3) and every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3) we desire has been met in Him. We don't live a life of obedience and repentance trying to be pleasing to God. We live a life of trust and dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit because, in Christ, we are already pleasing to Him. Satan is a deceiver and wants you to be focused on yourself and what you are doing and not on Jesus and what He has done. Remember, "The righteous will live by faith (Rom 1:17)." Stop doing what Satan wants you to do and rest in what Jesus has already done for you. Be blessed.