The news that the world is at war is not new, as it seems that no matter which channel you watch there are reports of bombings, rioting, countries violence, lives lost, and vast sums of money spent to win. Over and over our attention is drawn to Israel and Iran, Russia and Ukraine, China, and fighting in our cities. Yet, there is another war that gets very little attention. That war is the war within ourselves between good and evil, vice and virtue, sin and holiness. That spiritual war is one that none of us can afford to lose.
Traditional Christianity teaches that we have three very real enemies. The first is not other people or countries, but Satan who is the Accuser AKA the Devil who is the divider. He is the evil who is behind our fighting, discontent, and disorder. Yet, he goes unnoticed and unacknowledged, which gives him enormous power to influence ourselves and the world we live in. More about him and his methods later.
The second enemy is world, with all of its propaganda, superficial promises of how to achieve happiness. One of the world’s greatest lies is that I have to do things my way, and that I have to be in charge of my life. Two old songs say it well. One was by Frank Sinatra who sang, “I did it my way!” and the other by Sammy Davis, Jr. who sang, “I gotta be me!” Real freedom lies in not living my way but God’s way. I don’t have to be me, I have to be God’s. The world teaches that power, prestige, and wealth will bring happiness. They don’t.
The third enemy is the Flesh, better known as our natural tendencies toward selfishness and sinfulness. All of us have natural tendencies towards pride, envy, greed, gluttony, lust, anger, and sloth. We battle these tendencies with the grace of God in the hope that we become more humble, kind, generous, temperate, pure, forgiving and patient, diligent, and loving.
Make no mistake. We are at war! We fight the powers of this world which we will always have. We can win all the political wars and still lose the most important war that all must fight. All are called to spiritual warfare. We fight against the devil, against the empty promises of the world and fight the internal battle against the flesh. I hope on my deathbed that I will be able to say, “I fought the good fight.”
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May he let his face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”
