Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Choosing Wisely

Growing up my dad raised me to be an idealist. As I grew older the result was to see many challenges around me. When I asked my dad about this he told me sometimes we have to pick our battles. At the time it seemed a little like a cop out. Today I can see better what he meant, that one person has only so much time and resource and must choose wisely. As I listened to the message at church this weekend, I thought of another application.

Often we end up battling the enemy because we choose to do so. That may seem like an odd thing to say. Granted, we will have plenty of times when we have to battle the enemy when we did nothing to bring it on. In fact, hopefully those are the only types of battles we have with the enemy. Unfortunately, we will also have battles that we bring on. What do I mean? Well, how are we doing with temptations in our life? When we give in to these temptations, no matter how small, we actually choose that battle. In fact, we choose a losing position until we fail, fall on our knees, and ask God for forgiveness. We cannot win long term by fighting the enemy by his rules. We have to fight him by God’s rules. This means we have to serve God and call to Him because the devil is already defeated. That is, unless we surrender to our enemy, which is what giving in to temptation and sinning really is – surrender to the enemy.

I choose not to surrender to the enemy but rather to serve God.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt you as the Most High God. Thank You for winning the battle for us before it is fought. Please help us not to surrender to the enemy. Please help us to overcome temptation, and to life our lives committed to You. In Jesus name. Amen.