"Satan's ultimate lie is that you are capable of being the god of your own life, and his ultimate bondage is getting you to live as though his lie is truth."
~ Neil Anderson ~
I have been doing the Beth Moore devotion, David, 90 days with a heart like his. For the last several days, we have been looking at Saul's life. When I read this quote, I immediately thought about Saul. Many of his actions are great lessons for us. He shows us what happens when you act impulsively, don't follow God's will and try to set your own path for your future.
Sadly, I think we all may have some Saul tendencies at times. I know that I sometimes struggle with impulsiveness and surrendering complete control to God. Saul idolized himself. And it is oh, so easy, to become like him. When we are so self focused that we don't want to listen to God anymore, we are worshipping ourselves. We become our own idol.
And I can see how easy it is for Satan to make that, at first, seem so wonderful. How easy it becomes to justify actions that completely go against the word of God. It begins with sin. Then the justification comes to play, so that you won't feel convicted. Then your Bible finds a permanent place on the shelf where it begins to collect dust. Church outings don't happen anymore, because you KNOW God will just have that sermon speak to you and try to condemn you, so it's better to just sleep in and skip it. It's a vicious cycle and before you know it, you are caught up in the world and Satan has reined you in.
It happens often and it's scary. And really and truly, the end result is such unhappiness. The sinning becomes worse and worse. And so many people, including yourself, become horribly hurt in the process.
And, it is so easily preventable. Don't listen to satan's lies. YOU can't be the god of your own life. And why would you want to? There is a Father who wants to love you and wants your days to be blessed, joyful, peaceful. He wants to take your burdens. He wants to heal your marriage. He wants to listen to your prayers. He wants to answer them. He wants to give you eternal life.
So then why does the world and all of its anger, bitterness, loneliness, rejection, and sadness entice us at all?
Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
|