The Devil Made Me Do It

I’m not sure where I first heard the above title, but I know it had to be when I was a kid. It always seemed to be said in situations where the person in a movie or television show knew better, but went ahead and made the wrong choice anyway.

While God has given us the power of choice, to choose between right and wrong, good and bad, smart and dumb, we do have to be leery of the fact that someone besides us has God’s power. And that’s Satan.

You can call him the devil, Satan, the Enemy, the evil one, the serpent, the Deceiver, the Accuser, but whatever you call him we all need to be aware that he is powerful and that we are his targets. As Christians, Satan wants to take us out. He wants us take on all his qualities like lying, cheating, lusting, and so forth.

If you’re married, he wants you divorced and if he can’t take out your marriage then he wants you miserable in it. If you’re single he wants you sleeping around, if you’re a parent he doesn’t want you to teach your kids about God. If you’re a pastor, elder, worship leader or a teacher then he really goes after you because now you’re influencing others and he really hates that. I learned that the hard way this past week as I have found myself under tremendous spiritual warfare recently as the enemy has tried to discourage me from writing these devotions.

Public figures or people in the spotlight who have claimed Jesus as their own have a big target on them. I said to my wife recently when teen star Miley Cyrus went public with her faith and her quest for purity in her life that I hope Miley understands that she has made herself to the top of Satan’s list. And for the past two weeks what has happened to her? A couple of dumb, but inappropriate photos of her hit the internet and just today she is admitting that some Vanity Fair photos she posed for are “embarrassing” to her.

She is just one example. We have all heard of public figures of faith who have fallen under Satan’s temptations and out comes the phrase, “and that person call himself a Christian, what a hypocrite.” In some cases, we are caused to cringe and say “how could that person do something so stupid?” but I find myself recently having more compassion because I know I have never faced that kind of warfare from the devil.

What’s the bottom line in all of this? It’s not to bring you down, but instead to make you and me aware that we are Satan’s targets. The bigger impact we are making for the Kingdom, the greater spiritual warfare we will find ourselves under. If you don’t feel like you’re under attack then possibly you have to look at how much impact you’re making for God.

God did not leave us powerless against Satan in this world. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” James 4:7. I encourage you also to read Ephesians 6:10-19 so we can be armored up to fight his daily attacks.

If Satan beats you one day, don’t get discouraged. Rebuke him and make amends if you have to and God will supply the grace and mercy you need to continue on another day. We know the outcome. Satan has been defeated and he won’t be spending eternity with us.

Today. The devil won’t make me do it.