In our bible lesson series entitled "Sleeping With the Enemy" that we're teaching for the Young Apostolic Students For Christ (YASC) Campus Ministry, we are spending a great deal of time discussing the plan and objective our spiritual enemy the devil. St. John 10:10, Jesus tells his disciples that, "the thief cometh not but for to steal, kill, and destroy." And, this is an objective that our enemy the devil is in direct pursuit of every single day. He is a dedicated and devoted adversary. It's interesting, if there was every a quality about the devil that I do admire, it is his determination. He is relentless in his pursuit of God's children. And, if nothing else we need to adopt that relentless determination that the devil has and implement in our spiritual walk with God. All of us would be the better for doing so.
Even still, our primary adversary the devil is deadset on destroying everything that looks like God. There is nothing about the devil's objective in St. John 10:10 that suggest he like us, but this is not the case with us. We posed this question of hatred of the devil in both our bible class and our Sunday School class, and it got very quiet and the young people pondered the merits of the question. Is it o.k to hate the devil, is it alright to hate our spiritual adversary? In their defense, we were taught as children to never hate anyone, in fact we were punished whenever we evoked the word hate against someone else. So, it is understandable silence after this question of hatred is posed. But, I further explained if there was one person, one entity that it is alright to hate it is the devil. In fact, Psalms 139:20-22, "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord that hate thee? And, am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies." Note that phrase "perfect hatred," which means there is absolutely no room for ambiguity. When it comes to God's enemies, they are my enemies. This is a black and white issue, there are no room for any gray areas. So David makes it very clear that we are to hate the devil and everyone of God's enemies. But, my question is why is so hard for us to do.
What do you mean by that, some might ask? Why is hating the devil so hard to do? Well, it shouldn't be that hard, especially given his expressed objectives against us. But, many of us our in "like" with the devil, because we still gravitate to his devices. We listen to his music, we entertain his company periodically. And, as we said during our bible class, "if you let the devil ride, he's going to want to drive. " And, the devil is the worst passenger and even worst driver there is. So, while we are not in "love" with the devil as so many in the world are, we are definitely in "like" with him, because he is still a silent partner in our lives. And, giving him even the slighest bit of influence in our lives is detrimental to our walk with God. We have got to follow the Word of God's instruction and "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." And our greatest demonstration of our hatred for the devil is our praise & worship to God. The more we praise God, we demonstrate our hatred for the devil. And, in these last an evil days we certainly need to do more praising God and more hating the devil and his works.
I would love to get your thoughts on this subject. Why is it still so hard for many Christians to hate the devil?
This is a excellent topic Pastor Nimmons. I believe that one reason many are in "like" with the Devil is Christendom as a whole has made it acceptable. With saying like we must have balance in our lives, they say it is ok to listen to some worldly music, and it is ok to have a drink every once and a while because we must have balance. After all Jesus ate with sinners. There is a water downed Gospel being preached and the standards of Holiness are being lowered by many to fill they pews. But you are right on. We must hate the Devil with a perfect hatred. Good Word!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. And, believe it or not this is a touchy subject in the church. Which is startling to me. Its not a Sunday Morning sermon that you hear preached often in this day and time. But, the belief is real. We should and have ever right to "hate" the devil, because he certainly hates us. Thanks again for your comment! Be Blessed
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