Thursday, August 27, 2020

Partnering With the Devil

 

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.  I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world.  They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body.  Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.  Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve.  Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.  Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God.  But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement.  Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.    2 John 6-11

Some choices promise better than others, but there is a new choice every second of every lifetime:

          ·       To remain…or go; continue breathing…or not

          ·       To smile…or growl

          ·       To resist life’s tragedies…or embrace the challenges

          ·       To love…or partner with the devil.

I recall reading the account of a young man’s life, who, due to a skiing accident that crushed most of his body’s bones, left him facing the reality of climbing uphill for what was left of his days on this planet.  Those days were filled with pain, chronic, agonizing, and, at times, overwhelming pain.  Among the choices he entertained during that dark time was the possibility of ending it all…the pain, any hope of recovery, a miracle, or just the satisfaction of holding-on.  I cannot recall the man’s name, or where I read the story, but his words still ring deep in my soul: 

I do not have choice about the pain and the circumstances of my life, but, when it comes to joy, I can choose misery, or I can choose joy.

His testimony was that choosing joy over misery gave him a purpose; part of that purpose was to help others embrace whatever challenge life throws their way.

Apostle John, the same one whose Gospel account says that Jesus loved him, warned the church that there were merely two choices available in life – love God, or partner with the devil; the latter being a life built on deception, the chief of which was that Jesus hadn’t really come in a flesh-and-blood body, to die a horrible death for our sins.  That was beneath God’s dignity, and no self-respecting God would do such a thing.  In short, those living in deception denied Christ. 

The opposite side of that deception is truth, and to live in truth is to accept what is real. Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection means everything else He told us is true.  And, past that point of accepting Christ, we live as He told us to live, acting with love toward every other human being, and doing that, no matter if it is reciprocated. 

That is the way God loves, and our mission is to live like our God demonstrated.

When facing particularly challenging circumstances remember the choice between misery and joy.  Partnering with the devil’s deception looks like a much easier way out, and it is – it’s your gateway to a life of misery without parole. 

The other choice will always seem more difficult, requiring faith, yielding control to Christ’s plan for your life.  But in doing so you will discover the pathway to genuine joy.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com  ∞ Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on 2 John see: Imposters and Old Words That are New


 

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