The Greatest Trick

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

I am battling in my mind with a certain aspect of my faith journey.  Whereas most battles center around God, this is focused on Satan, which is appropriate considering a recent devotion I read focused on him.  Earlier this week, a question asked was, “What is Satan’s greatest trick?”  Someone answered, “Convincing people that he didn’t exist.”  I actually liked what was said, but to me the greatest trick that Satan has ever tried to pull is that your past represents who you are.  The reason that is the greatest is because your past predicting your future makes logical sense.  We can all look at our own past and see where we have either triumphed or failed.  Thus, immediately we believe that was who we were then, are today, and will be tomorrow.  However, Jesus Christ is the greatest force for transformational change.  This is the purpose for Paul’s writing to the Romans in the 12th chapter.  There is a reason a gospel song says that a saint is just a sinner who fell and got up.

Being aligned with Christ means we are transformed not only spiritually but also mentally.  The beginning of my own spiritual journey began in a lie of Satan.  My belief was that because of my past (having a child out of wedlock), I would not be worthy of entry into Heaven.  Furthermore, I could not live a life that met His glory.  However, I have learned that is the mind game of Satan.  His role in this world is to convince us we can never be all that God believes we can be.  Satan says we are neither good nor faithful enough to deserve His love.  But there is a simple solution to address that issue, and His name of course is Jesus Christ.  When He died on the cross for our sins, and He gave us the opportunity to surrender it all to Him.  I did and was forever changed.  My story is a simple one, and the stories of those who lived a challenging and horrible life and became living testaments of the transformative power of Christ are endless.  Yet, Satan will whisper in your ear, “You’ll never change.”  Think of Jesus after 40 days of fasting when Satan promised to give Him all the kingdoms in the world if He worshipped him (Matthew 4:9).  Satan looks to find your weakness and exploit it.  Jesus wants us to trust in Him and see a brighter future that He has for us.  Through seeing the light of Christ, we see through the lies of Satan as well.

We must never forget the enemy’s resolve to separate us from what God offers us.  Just as the snake in the Garden of Eden convinced Adam and Eve to disobey what God had told them, Satan will not stop in trying to convince you that you are not a child of God.  He will exploit every angle, and the greatest one is your past failures.  Do not let him get a foothold in your mind.  Always remember who you are in Christ and pray to Him for strength and forgiveness.  What in your past is holding you from a greater future with Christ?  How can you better see the deceptions of Satan?  My prayer is we are wise to remember God’s grace when confronted with our past; Satan’s greatest trick.  Amen.