Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12 (NLT)
Satan is one, smart dude. Yes, he is evil – diabolically evil – but he is very, very smart. If we look back at the thousands of years in earth’s history we can see it. This fallen angel caused two perfect humans, who walked side-by-side with God Himself, to choose sin over perfection. He convinced one of the very first siblings in this world to murder his brother, causing the first death in the history of the universe to occur. He convinced all but a handful of the population in the world that God was evil, bringing about the need for a global flood. He swayed prophets and kings to do his bidding. Eventually, he convinced those who were supposed to be devout followers of God to murder Him on a cross. He manipulated the Jews and the Romans to hunt down and kill Christians. He corrupted the Catholic church so bad that they literally killed those who stood against their doctrine or disobeyed their teachings. (These were known as the “Dark Ages” and spanned over a millennium in time.) Of course, these are only a few of the billions upon billions of times that Satan has outsmarted humanity and caused it to his bidding.
Given all of our knowledge of Satan’s capabilities, how do we keep falling for his lies? Let’s look closer at how Satan operates. It begins and ends with Satan attacking the two greatest commandments. For a refresher, they are: 1) Love God above all else; 2) Love others as yourself. Satan attacks the bonds between us and God, and us and others. And, he is just as active as he’s ever been ruining relationships. Whether the relationship is between spouses (or ex-spouses), friends, acquaintances, or those we maybe haven’t gotten to yet, Satan is working hard to drive a wedge between us. Christians are not exempt from falling for the lies.
So, what must we do? The Apostle Paul gives us some tips. “Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you.” Notice, we are supposed to be fighting against the lies of Satan, not each other. We are to hold tightly to our eternal relationship with God. We are to restore and defend relationships, not allow, or participate in infighting, slander, gossip, backstabbing, and condemnation. We are called to hold tightly to Jesus and each other.
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