To Tell the Truth
People Who Need People
One of the devil's spiritual attacks is isolation. He wants us to be alone. The logical response to that attack is to be in community. Easy, right? Well, maybe not so much. Once we're in isolation, it's hard to get out. Building community is a preventive action. When you are in the right group, they can draw you out and fight the battle as your sisters and brothers in arms.
Be Healed
Do you want to be healed? Jesus asks this of a man who had been sick for a long time. It is a question he asks us today. Do you want to be healed?
I do. I think I'm pretty healthy, but sometimes I get angry, frustrated, and discouraged by my failures. These reactions indicate that there is still healing to be done. I have to wonder why certain spiritual attacks work on me.
No Thank You
Why is Satan so successful in the spiritual battle? Because we are human beings who want to be satisfied, even when we want what is not good for us. We have heart disease and add salt to our food. We have diabetes and eat ice cream every day. We are overweight but don’t feel like exercising. We know what we should be doing but just don’t do it. If there isn’t immediate gratification, we aren’t inclined to take action.
The enemy uses this human inclination for comfort and satisfaction to attack us. And so, in response—and in anticipation—we must learn to control our passions, to practice self-denial.
My Bad!
My Bad! That's what you say when you have messed up. You knock over someone's drink. "My bad!" You blame someone for a mistake and find that it was your own fault. "My bad!" It's a common way of acknowledging our faults, of taking the blame for something we did, of owning our mistakes. And it is said without any judgment about our identity. No self-condemnation. Just a simple statement that we were wrong.
Repentance is a little like that, in that we acknowledge our fault or sin, but there's more. We don't just say, "My bad" (although we say that). We also say, "I don't want to do that again. I want to be different."