Neutralize

Reading in Luke 4 this morning about the enemy tempting Jesus in the wilderness.  He questioned His identity saying “if” you are the Son of God, and then enticed Jesus to act on His own will to remedy a situation in His own self-sufficiency, to take short cuts that didn’t align with God’s plan.  He then made promises of authority and splendor if Jesus would worship him. The enemy then twisted scripture to try and get Jesus to test God.

In this short reading, I had at least a million thoughts.  I thought of how often the enemy tempts us those same ways and I know I have fallen for his schemes  I thought of how I have questioned my identity most of my life, I thought of how often I have jumped ahead of God or if I am honest, not even given God a thought before I took action.  And we could talk all day about how I have lived in my own self sufficiency…thinking I was running my life. The enemy has promised me success, love, riches and more…and I am not proud to say most of my earthly life, I have been unaware of his schemes.

Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  I cannot shout loud enough or say too many times how much this one verse has changed my life. This is exactly what Jesus did in the wilderness when He was tempted.  He took captive the lies of the enemy and made them obedient to God’s truth, scripture He quoted in response.

The enemy was attempting to neutralize Jesus, to tempt Him to act of His own power, His own will, His own comfort even and abandon His purpose and submission to God.  This made me think of ways we are neutralized…oh, i thought of quite a few in a short time and I am quite sure there are a bazillion more.

Shame and guilt eat away at our soul and makes us feel unworthy.  Unworthy of love, unworthy of grace, unworthy of having purpose, unworthy of bringing God glory.  Sometimes the guilt and shame are not even a result of our own doing, but rather something that has been done to us…and we carry the weight like a noose around our neck.  Shame makes us want to hide, guilt makes us shrink back. Shame and guilt label us useless and render us neutral not only for bringing God glory…but in our own lives, we remain stuck and ineffective.  NEUTRALIZED

How about offendedness, condemnation of others, unforgiveness?  These are all rooted in self-righteousness and pride. We sometimes believe others should think, speak and act in ways that honor us, ways that respect us. We condemn others for their sin that may be different than our sin.  We condemn others for not treating us like we are something “special”. Unforgiveness says–whatever you did to me is far worse than anything I have ever done or could be capable of doing…it’s a lie of the enemy. There is no ranking of sin, nor is there anyone without sin except Jesus.  Jesus leveled the playing field with the woman caught in adultery to illustrate just that. None of us are better than another. Can you see how all of these things focus on how others treat “me” or compare to “me”? It’s a world that revolves around self, a place that keeps us the bondage of sitting on our imaginary pedestal, never walking through the ugly truth of who we are.  If we can’t acknowledge our wretchedness, we will never see our need for grace, crazy grace…that we absolutely do not deserve. NEUTRALIZED

Let’s think about selfishness (concern for oneself, advantage, pleasure, welfare, etc.).  Maybe we are driven by greed and crave money or material possessions, maybe we are fueled by drama and could care less the wreckage we leave behind for our comfort.  Maybe lust or admiration is at the top of our list of demands. Power and authority drive many to strive for recognition in their careers. All of these feed our ego…our sense of worth and value-even the drama because it provides the attention we crave.  

If we are consumed with our own glory, our own interests…how can we be concerned with the things of God?  How can we bring Him glory? NEUTRALIZED

Comparison, lies, sin in general...NEUTRALIZED.  The ugliness is endless.  The good news is, we don’t have to fall for the enemy’s schemes.  We don’t have to chase his false promises, we don’t have to question our identity or purpose, we don’t have to be concerned with ourselves always striving and trying.  We have a choice! We can take captive these pretensions and make them obedient to God’s truth. John 8:32 says, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  Free from falling for his schemes, free to accept grace, free to live for HIM!!!