Step one in joining any war effort is enlistment. When it comes to spiritual warfare, I’m afraid you and I were born enlisted, whether we’ve actively acknowledged the fact or not. In the conflict between the One who is good and the evil one, the question is never “When should I join the fight?” but “Am I fighting for the right side?”
If you’ve never considered the second question in one form or another, I have bad news for you: you’re likely on the wrong, and by wrong I mean Satan’s, side. How can I possibly make that call, especially if I’ve never even met you? It’s a safe call because every single one of us is born as a junior member of his ranks. We’re voluntary slaves to sin and are shamelessly self-deceptive by our default nature, and apart from God’s graciously opening our eyes to this fact and “re-birthing” us into His kingdom, we’ll spend our whole lives as enemies of God and His truth. There’s no such thing as “no man’s land” in this; you’re a servant of sin or a servant of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:13 speaks of God the Father “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” According to Strong’s Concordance, the word rendered “translated” in this verse means “to transfer, i.e. carry away, depose or (figuratively) exchange...” This is one situation where being “carried away,” so to speak, is a very, very good thing. The “power of darkness” spoken of is the power that the devil holds over us through sin; it is present in us the moment we are brought into existence (“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me,” Psalm 51:5), and it manifests itself as soon as we are capable of the simplest moral action (“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies,” Psalm 58:3). Not necessarily what you’d be wise to say to happy parents cooing over their newborn, but true nonetheless (and yes, I love babies too)! This power is not something we can “overcome” or “rise above”; our hearts are firmly within its grasp, and as Colossians 1:13 indicates, nothing short of a work of God can pry those sinister fingers away and “transfer” us into the kingdom of His Son.
What is this work of God I’m referring to? Christians uses different terms to describe it, such as “the new birth,” “regeneration,” “redemption,”and more, but in short, it’s spiritual heart surgery (see Ezekiel 36:24-27). It’s God mercifully taking out our natural-born sin-loving heart that breeds self-destructive defiance towards Him and replacing it with a new heart that sees its own utter lack of “good-enoughness,” is repentant toward sin, and trusts solely in the finished work of Christ on the cross for salvation. Understanding our own sinfulness, the work of Christ on behalf of sinners, and how that work is applied to sinners by God is foundational to everything you’ll ever do in this life, period (and also foundational to everything that I’ll ever write on here), so I’ll be taking a few posts to explain those truths more fully. With respect to this great conflict between truth and deception, consider where you stand, who you’re standing with, and what you’re standing for. More on this next time.
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