Mistaking the real enemy
I've noticed that it's deceptively easy to get so busy at fighting against other things, that we can fail to recognize and fight the real enemy.
The real enemy, obviously, is Satan. Yet, we often spend a lot of our energy fighting all kinds of other (more secular) things, such as taxes, political leaders, and so on, that we don't ever bother fighting Satan. Indeed, this is playing into Satan's hands. There is nothing he would like more than for you to be distracted into thinking that someone else is the bad guy.
It's not that we shouldn't care at all about what's going on in the world, and things like social injustice. We should care, and caring translates into action. Going off on a rant or yelling at people is not really going to help. If caring about an issue translates into constructive action, fine. But I feel it's all too easy for me to do something totally non-constructive such as complain about something that's going on in the world, while failing completely to recognize that this issue is not our real enemy.
Or even in the case where feeling angry would be a valid feeling, I still notice it's all too easy for the anger to be totally out of proportion to the situation. For example, I bet most of us (I'm definitely including myself here) would get angrier at being cut off by someone in traffic, than at Satan for trying to steal people away from Christ.
In either case, sitting around and being angry isn't going to help. In contrast, evangelizing will hep win souls for Christ! So it's all too easy to get so busy fighting against secular things that we not only fail to recognize the real enemy, but we also fail to take any constructive action.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
The real enemy, obviously, is Satan. Yet, we often spend a lot of our energy fighting all kinds of other (more secular) things, such as taxes, political leaders, and so on, that we don't ever bother fighting Satan. Indeed, this is playing into Satan's hands. There is nothing he would like more than for you to be distracted into thinking that someone else is the bad guy.
It's not that we shouldn't care at all about what's going on in the world, and things like social injustice. We should care, and caring translates into action. Going off on a rant or yelling at people is not really going to help. If caring about an issue translates into constructive action, fine. But I feel it's all too easy for me to do something totally non-constructive such as complain about something that's going on in the world, while failing completely to recognize that this issue is not our real enemy.
Or even in the case where feeling angry would be a valid feeling, I still notice it's all too easy for the anger to be totally out of proportion to the situation. For example, I bet most of us (I'm definitely including myself here) would get angrier at being cut off by someone in traffic, than at Satan for trying to steal people away from Christ.
In either case, sitting around and being angry isn't going to help. In contrast, evangelizing will hep win souls for Christ! So it's all too easy to get so busy fighting against secular things that we not only fail to recognize the real enemy, but we also fail to take any constructive action.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7: 15-20
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