"For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms."
The first
step in winning a war is identifying the enemy.
Paul is
pointing out to the Ephesian Christians who the enemy is not… the enemy is not
their neighbors … not those who don’t believe.
They may appear to be the adversary, but they are in fact being
controlled by a much more insidious foe. This verse says we must focus our
attack on the real opponent.
In
medicine we don’t treat an illness by killing the person who has it…we identify
the pathogen and attack it specifically. The same amount of care is taken in
not damaging the patient, as is taken in destroying the offending microbe. This is how we must target and attack sin
It seems
we have lost this truth in our society today.
Instead,
we employ a “scorched earth” mentality and eliminate with great hostility
anyone who gives the slightest hint of disagreement. The problem is we attack
the person not the powers that have blinded them. By destroying the host, we do
the job of the disease, instead of curing it.
Our enemy
is spiritual. It blinds people, it lies
to people, it confuses people. Its stated objective is to steal, kill, and
destroy.
We cannot
fight this foe by stealing people’s self-worth, killing their value, and
destroying their hope. Our fight is not against them, and our aggression must
not be directed at them.
The remedy
for the illness is to “speak the truth in love”, and the antidote must be
applied precisely to be effective.
If you
speak the truth without love it will be rejected.
If you
water down the truth it is no longer truth - and allowing people to comfortably
continue toward their own destruction is not love.
So, you
must know who you are fighting…and know who you are not. Attack the sin not the sinner. Don’t tolerate the sickness… but don’t kill
the patient.
There are
powers in this dark world that seek to destroy us…don’t help them.
Go on a
“seek and destroy” mission today. Seek
and love the lost … and destroy the enemy who has them blinded.
"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern
world that we must love our enemies? … hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we
shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
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