Last year's new year resolution has had a lasting impact on my life. I gave up believing in the power of the devil and I've never been so free!
The more I read my bible, the more I realised that the devil really is a defeated foe, and the more I lived out my life believing this is so, the more I discovered about my true identity in Christ.
For anyone who knows God's unconditional love for them, the devil has as little power. Jesus has defeated sin, death and the devil, once and for all on the cross. Do we as the church pump up the devil's power to the point of worship?
Fighting shadows
We can spend so much time searching out the devil, that we have never really stopped to think about why. We even search out satan in bible passages that have no mention of him. Have we ever stopped to consider that the writer of Genesis had absolutely no concept of "The Devil" when they wrote the story of the serpent and the fall?
The understanding of a spiritual being responsible for evil only developed for the Jews after the exile, long after much of the Old Testament was written (I admit there is conjecture here as Job is now considered one of the earliest Books of the Old Testament with a very complete picture of the devil).
I am not necessarily discounting the existence of satan here, I am simply seeking to point out his unnecessary presence in our lives.
So why do we give him so much glory in our church services and prayer meetings? Why do we have to cleanse the temple so to speak, making sure the presence of darkness does not slink into our gatherings, our homes or our cities?
Changing my thinking
The questions I am asking here represent a significant shift in my understanding of who I am and what the cross has accomplished.
The bible regularly proclaims that we have been saved from sin, that we are in the light, not in darkness and that the enemy is defeated.
As Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verse 8, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". The book of Revelation calls Jesus the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world". From God's perspective, his offer of forgiveness was appropriated and the work was finished long before sin ever came into effect. In essence, sin, death and the devil were defeated before they were ever even a problem.
The year of easy living
So now the devil really doesn't present a daily problem to me. Sure I need to check my behaviour and thoughts but I am no longer "pressing in" for breakthroughs against an unseen enemy. I simply take the unhelpful thought captive and remember my unbreakable union with Christ, brought about through his death on the cross, while I was still a sinner.
My resolution this year is more of the same. Disregarding an ineffectual and unworthy enemy and focussing instead on life filled with God's love. Like St Paul, I've decided to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and let ol' "whats-his-name-again?" disappear into oblivion. I've spent the last twelve months drinking the joy and freedom of the living water. Why would I resolve to do anything else?
Russell Croft has a heart for community and reaching out to the marginalised and forgotten. He is getting to know the God of infinite goodness and is living a joy-filled life with his wife Belinda and three children in South-East Queensland, Australia.
Russell Croft's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/russell-croft.html