Resisting

Most of us have been on a diet at one time or another; it is then that we must say, “Yes” to eating healthy and “No” to junk food. Yet our challenge is to really mean it. Many Americans lose weight only to put the lost weight plus more back on. Their desire for junk food remains and they are never really free from the struggle of guilt and associated health problems that come from being over weight.

Now my purpose isn’t to talk about dieting; I just want to use it as an illustration, because many of us approach our relationship with God in the same way. You see most of us diet with one eye on the scale and the other on all the things we want so badly to eat; once we’re satisfied with the number on the scale we go right back to eating the way we used to.

Likewise as Christians many of us have one eye on God and the other on the world, and we continue to struggle with the same ‘secret sins.’ How can we break free and live the righteous life God desires?

• Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  James 4:7 (NIV)

I think many of us don’t understand what it means to resist the devil. For many it’s like pushing away the dessert when we are dieting; we don’t eat it, but our mouth is watering. (Or for us tough guys, we resist the devil in a hand to hand combat; we may give in to sin and be beaten from time to time, but we somehow convince ourselves that we are getting stronger.)

That’s not what it means to resist the devil. When we resist Satan flees, but how does that happen?

Many of us overlook what James says first: “Submit to God.” We have to turn our backs to the devil, together with the temptation to sin, and put both eyes on God and His will for our lives. When we do all the devil sees is what we are looking at; when Satan sees God he runs away.

I like how the Message Bible puts it: “So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.” We resist the devil when we learn to let God fight our battles and keep Jesus as the center of our heart’s desires. Paul told Timothy, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.”* In other words run away from the devil and temptation; run to God. Let’s keep both eyes on Jesus and shout a loud “No” at the devil.
*2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV)