"Come out from Under"
Sep. 25, 2019
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."
~ Revelation 12:10-11 (ESV)
It appears one of Satan's full-time tasks is to accuse the faithful before the Father. For him to condemn the saints is a futile thing. Perhaps he thinks there's some exception to God's love that won't save a believer. Wrong! Then again, maybe his tactic is to just wear God down, thinking that sooner or later the Father will get fed up with the whole saved-by-grace thing and just fry the whole lot of us. Wrong again! (Thank God!)
The above verses speak to the persistence of the foe we engage every day. What possible good could there be for Satan to accuse the faithful non-stop if he knows God and His promised mercy will not budge? Is it possible he doesn't know this? Or is he simply throwing it in God's face, so to speak, all the horrendous things His children have done before they became His through faith in Jesus? (I know, sick, right? Well, nobody said the devil wasn't twisted.)
Unfortunately, these accusations are part of our fallen world, too. Do you mull over past sins, rubbing salt in still open wounds? Do you find yourself locked in a spiral of stinkin' thinkin' where you berate yourself for this or that misdeed? When we perpetually replay our sins, for whatever reason, we do an injustice to God's grace. It's as if we're saying, "Thanks, Lord, I know You've covered my sins with Jesus' blood, but this particular sin, well, it still demands my full attention. I just can't let it go as easy as You can."
Really? You're going to hang on to something that God has forgiven?
Maybe a visit from David is in order: "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ... As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:10, 12).
And lest we forget, here's what Paul says about moving on: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13b-14).
And lastly, when self-loathing has the upper hand, here's Paul's tour de force on the subject: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:1-4).
Living under sin's condemnation is no way to love. Come out from under and receive God's love and forgiveness.
THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, free us from the bondage of deception that keeps us replaying our sins. Your Son has taken them all for us, and that is enough. In His Name we pray. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Does life ever weigh heavy and wear you down, for no apparent reason? How do you rise above this mental funk?
- Why would Satan spend time accusing the faithful night and day before God? What is there in it for him?
- Does knowing that hurling accusations against believers is a chronic activity of Satan help put things into perspective?
This Daily Devotion was written by Paul Schreiber. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
Does life ever weigh heavy and wear you down, for no apparent reason?
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