What Value Does Sin Have to Our Enemy?
by
Jerry N. Duncan, Ph.D., ABPP
As I have thought more about our conversation about what sin is, it occurred to me that our choices to be self-sufficient in meeting our needs our way rather than God’s way must cause some celebration in the enemy camp. If God has a plan and strategies for our recovery, doesn’t it make sense that His/our enemy also has a plan for our demise and strategies as well?
Remember, the same pride that resulted in Lucifer’s removal from Heaven still drives him to acts of revenge and retalliation. His best way to hurt God is to create pain and suffering for God’s most prized creation—man.
We are God’s most prized creation. When you read the creation story in Genesis, you discover that after each day of creation, God declares what He has created as “good.” When man is created, though, God declares this part of His creation as “very good.”
In the New Testament, you will find Jesus himself declaring that God’s love for man is so great that He is willing to sacrifice His only son to death in order for this loved creation to have another chance. We are extremely important to God.
Sin, in its most extreme forms, has resulted in countless acts of brutality and genocide for centuries. But, there are more subtle ways for the Enemy to use sin to devastate God’s most prized creation.
Covert, behind-enemy-lines techniques have been practiced in wars for thousands of years. “Sleeper Cells,” as we currently call them, can wait and look for just the right time to create devastation from within a country’s borders.
Let’s examine some of the ways that sin can create subtle but significant devastation in the lives of God’s chosen ones. Let’s also keep in mind as we examine these strategies, that “the devil made me do it” is not what we are declaring. He is involved, but only in setting the opportunity up. We are responsible for our choice to say, “Yes” or “No” to the opportunity.
If we practice a sin long enough, we can find ourselves eventually becoming desensitized to the pain it is creating for us and for others. We can also find ourselves becoming less sensitive to God’s warnings/promptings from within each time we ignore Him.
We can find ourselves feeling more self-sufficient and needing God less as we discover ways to meet our needs our ways rather than God’s ways. They won’t work as well, and they will ultimately hurt us in some way, but we can usually find some way to minimize, ignore, or “medicate” the pain.
“Going our own way” will sometimes result in others following our example. A declared follower of Jesus that is living apart from God is the Enemy’s best missionary. If there is no obvious difference between a non-believer and a follower of Jesus, why become a Christian?
I think that one of the Enemy’s greatest hopes is that consistent sin in the life of a follower of Jesus will result in a guilt that will prompt that follower to pull away or withdraw from God out of fear or shame. It works. And, it hurts God.
Being aware of your enemy’s covert strategies allows you the opportunity to take countermeasures. Your close and intimate relationship with God is incredibly important to Him.
Your best countermeasure is the truth. God has always loved you in spite of your choices, and always will. You will never be perfect in your choices while here on earth. He just wants you to consistently allow and trust Him to do His progressive recovery work from-the-inside-out over time.