Satan's a Loser

It just dawned on me this morning as I was beginning my prayers.

Satan is a loser.

Here's what I mean:

Satan is known as the Tempter and the Accuser. As the Tempter, he dangles those little temptations at you. You know the ones; they look good on the outside but you know (probably from experience) they ain't so good on the inside. And so you move through your day, brushing aside those temptations, "resisting the Devil" so to speak and you're doing pretty well.

Until,"... each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" comes along.

Then you stumble. You fall. You make a fool of us all to quote D.C. Talk.

If you're like me, you realize, sometimes with horror, what you've done and you immediately run back to God. You fall to your knees at His throne and repent, begging forgiveness. You fall into His arms as He grants you mercy and forgiveness. You willing accept the consequences of your sin.

But what of the devil? He's right there, encouraging you to sin and when you do, he's oh so very happy and smug. He then turns on you, going from "it's alright just this once, all the kids are doing it!" to, "you scumbag! How could you do that as a Christian. I would hesitate to call you a Christian after what you did. I'm telling God!"

And there he is, at the throne of God, right next to you, pointing out your hypocrisy, your sin, your downfall and the fact that this is probably not the first time you've done this.

But what's in it for him? I mean, come on, you just crawled back to his arch-enemy...God! Jesus! The Father! You fell for a moment but your eternity is still secure. You've just returned to Christ and His cleansing blood. You may have caused others to stumble but Christ is right there with forgiveness and love and mercy and grace for those who repent.

It's stupefying really. Unless the Devil gets some perverse pleasure in a useless gesture. It's like the kid that knows that teasing his sister is going to get him spanked and yet he does it anyways for that one moment of perverse glee. And when he's sitting in his room, butt burning from the paddle, he is torn between having teased his sister and the pain in his rear.

That's some twisted stuff my friend. But then again, no one said Ol' Scratch wasn't.

I think for me, this realization, just took the sting out of the guilt of accusation. It put into a whole new perspective the temptation to sin. It's a lose/lose scenario for Satan and a lose/win scenario for me. I lose to the sin but I win that it brings me closer to Christ. Which in the end, is a good thing. The road (sin) isn't the best way to get there but it will help point us to the straight and narrow.

My 2 cents...

Eric


P.S. Add a couple more albums to my previous post....

Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell
Jars of Clay - Long Fall Back to Earth and Good Monsters
Third Day - Revelation

Eric