In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4 ESV)
Satan and Love
Satan and the spiritual aspect of our daily battles, in some sense, is the most difficult part with which we grapple. Unlike the flesh and the world, the spiritual fight is not detectible by our senses. Our objective mind struggles to grasp it. It is more mysterious than understood.
Perhaps that feels more scary. Perhaps that makes it more intimidating. Perhaps that gives us reason to be more insecure. Perhaps that births fear, and worry, and heart-freeze.
But it should not.
The more we do not understand about this type of warfare, the more we are forced to depend on Christ. We depend on Christ when battling the flesh and the world, too. But we are more prone to trust ourselves, if we perceive we can handle it on our own.
When it comes to spiritual warfare, Christ is our first, middle, and last defense.
And our relationship with Christ is founded by, funded by, and fed by love.
My seminary professor, Dr. Knox Chamblin, taught that modern Christians make two mistakes when it comes to Satan. We either over-emphasize him, or under-emphasize him.
But either way, the Christian’s answer to Satan is love. Christ’s love defeats every effort of Satan. Christ’s unconditional love defeats the guilty accusations that Satan whispers. Christ’s sacrificial love pays our undeserved way through heaven’s gates. Christ’s powerful and providential love turns Satan’s ploys into Christian victory.
Take the love God grants us.