Note to self:To hate satan is to hate myself.
April 22nd 2011 17:51
To hate Satan is to hate myself.
To like Satan is to like my sinful state.
To 'identify' with Satan is salvation.
Satan is just Sin plus Rebellion which equals Cast Out
Me without Jesus is the same as Sin plus Rebellion which also equals Cast Out
BUT Me plus Repentance plus Jesus equals Salvation
Thus, it is sinful rebellion that I hate. I hate what sin does to people's lives. I hate the sin Satan encourages. But I do not hate Satan. It is not Satan who makes me sin. It is my choice. It is selfishness. He cannot MAKE me sin. I must choose.
I was not MADE nor COMPELLED to sin, but I do have a sinful nature. From the moment I was born I knew what I wanted and thought I needed. First and foremost, I wanted food. I wanted food NOW. Did I always need food that very second? No. Sometimes it was better to let me cry for a moment or two.
How do I know? Because I did not let my firstborn cry. I could not stand it. I felt she was incapable of a selfish nature. If she was hungry, she HAD to eat NOW. She ended up with a herniated umbilical cord. Why? The doctor said it is quite often seen with inexperienced mothers who do not let their babies cry. Without crying the abdominal muscles are weak. Those children often roll, sit and walk later as well. She did just that.
I am still in the very situation into which I was born. I know my needs, but I do not know the best ways for them to be met. I try to fill them on my own. I throw my little temper tantrums and insist on doing things my way. I lead my own life. I choose how I behave. But have those choices matured in any way? Not really. Amazingly, I have seen that those choices are still always guided by what I believe to be in my best interests. I choose what I believe is in my own best interests. Selfishness. As selfish as when I entered the world.
Obviously, it would make sense to make choices on the basis of what we believe is most important. Those select few interests we believe to be most valuable at the moment. Pleasure. Nature. Environment. Children. Humanity. Money. Love. Family. God. The list is endless. If we are completely honest, even those of us who choose Jesus were almost always initially motivated by selfishness. We wanted salvation, not slavery.
Think about it. How else can we get to heaven? We are most likely just 'hedging our bets'. If Jesus is real we would be screwed without Him. If He isn’t, we still lived a ‘good’ life and are no worse off. Selfishness. If we live a good life in His name, we get salvation, we get to hear “well done my good and faithful servant”, we get crowns to lay at His feet. We choose based on what WE GET.
It's odd that from a very young age I knew what was considered “good” (amazing how close that is to the name of God isn't it?). I also knew what was considered ‘not good’. I tried to be good because I was told I should be, but being bad was so much more fun! Unless I was ‘punished’ for being bad, it had a much stronger pull on me. A part of me wanted to be good, but I also wanted the type of fun being bad ( i.e. sinning) offered. Sin is fun. Everyone around me was sinning and seeming to love it.
Being good has rewards as well. There are people you can impress. Compliments you can earn. I was told that goodness pays off in the long run. It takes much longer to enjoy being good, than being bad. Being bad gives nearly instantaneous results. Other than pride, good takes a lot longer to reach ‘pay off’. Just like a newborn, we usually go for the immediate fulfillment instead of what may be best for us in the long run.
I am eternally grateful for what I realized around the age of 20. The immediate is fleeting. The moment passes quickly, be it pain or pleasure. The defining factor of our lives is what we are willing to wait for, or what we are not. We are defined by what we defer. Be it pleasure or pain, either way, we wait.
We continue to wait for the pleasure that lasts. Either we do so while enjoying the ‘pleasures’ sin has to offer now, though they quickly lose their savor and we must progress to a higher (or is it lower?) level; or we set aside immediate gratification awaiting a larger return in the end. Why is gratification so tempting? Why is it so hard to wait? Why do we want it all 'now'?
I have realised that sin is pleasurable for one reason only ~ because God made it pleasurable. Any pleasure was created by God. Not only that, but each one was specifically made with humans in mind. Each area of pleasure was God's way of blessing us. Smell. Sight. Taste. Touch. Hearing. There was no need for defense when they were created, they were purely for enjoyment. Sin made everything pleasurable also painful.
Sinful pleasure is just the misuse of a tool God created to bring pleasure. Sadly, any tool misused does not work to its full potential. A knife can be a screwdriver, but not very well. It becomes a hollow imitation and often is rendered useless for what it was created to be. Carob does not equal Chocolate. Even Equal does not equal Sugar. Sex does not equal Love. We cannot re-create God’s gifts in our own image without losing something in the process. It is that loss haunts us. That drives us to go farther, try harder, dig a deeper ditch to fall into.There is never enough.
Real pleasure, the way it was created to be, requires waiting. It requires investing. It requires setting aside self gratification and awaiting providential care. It requires trust.
No matter which we choose, we wait The only difference is in the type of returns we get. One is like buying a lottery ticket. The other is a guaranteed bond.
You have to hold onto a bond for a very long time before it reaches full value. A lottery ticket winner is revealed within the week. The lottery pays a very select few and only for a short time. You have to buy another ticket to enjoy the feeling of hope for another week. And even winning lottery tickets have an expiration date. Bonds are not so. They continue to increase in value the longer you hold on to them. They can never be worth less, only more. You are guaranteed. But,you have to wait. You have to trust in the authority under which your bond was issued. You have to defer the pleasures you could purchase with that investment today and wait. That is very difficult to do. Especially on a regular basis.
Satan chose the lottery and lost. He could not wait. He could not invest. He saw what he thought he needed and he went for it. I did that for many years as well. I lived for the moment, only to have it pass all too quickly. I can identify with Satan. I cannot hate Satan, for he only made the same choice I did and still do way too often. I elevate my needs and desires over God's calling. It is only when I choose to Love God and hate Sin that I become a ‘bond servant’ of Christ. That’s the term used in the Word. I am free to choose pleasure or to choose slavery. Seems like an easy choice. Satan could not stay a slave to God when he could do just as good a job and enjoy everything God had to offer NOW, without the waiting. I have the same choice. The difference is that when I choose poorly, I get another chance. Satan was never given even a second chance. His one investment was a losing lottery ticket.
TODAY is called Good Friday. It is Good because one day a few thousand years ago we were given that second chance for the first time. Now, every moment of every day we choose what to do with that inheritance. Do we play the lottery? Continually gorging ourselves on empty hope waiting for the possible momentary pleasure? Only to repeat that wait again, over and over. Or do we invest it in a bond, hope and waiting for the possible eternal pleasure? Either way, we wait.
To like Satan is to like my sinful state.
To 'identify' with Satan is salvation.
Satan is just Sin plus Rebellion which equals Cast Out
Me without Jesus is the same as Sin plus Rebellion which also equals Cast Out
BUT Me plus Repentance plus Jesus equals Salvation
Thus, it is sinful rebellion that I hate. I hate what sin does to people's lives. I hate the sin Satan encourages. But I do not hate Satan. It is not Satan who makes me sin. It is my choice. It is selfishness. He cannot MAKE me sin. I must choose.
I was not MADE nor COMPELLED to sin, but I do have a sinful nature. From the moment I was born I knew what I wanted and thought I needed. First and foremost, I wanted food. I wanted food NOW. Did I always need food that very second? No. Sometimes it was better to let me cry for a moment or two.
How do I know? Because I did not let my firstborn cry. I could not stand it. I felt she was incapable of a selfish nature. If she was hungry, she HAD to eat NOW. She ended up with a herniated umbilical cord. Why? The doctor said it is quite often seen with inexperienced mothers who do not let their babies cry. Without crying the abdominal muscles are weak. Those children often roll, sit and walk later as well. She did just that.
I am still in the very situation into which I was born. I know my needs, but I do not know the best ways for them to be met. I try to fill them on my own. I throw my little temper tantrums and insist on doing things my way. I lead my own life. I choose how I behave. But have those choices matured in any way? Not really. Amazingly, I have seen that those choices are still always guided by what I believe to be in my best interests. I choose what I believe is in my own best interests. Selfishness. As selfish as when I entered the world.
Obviously, it would make sense to make choices on the basis of what we believe is most important. Those select few interests we believe to be most valuable at the moment. Pleasure. Nature. Environment. Children. Humanity. Money. Love. Family. God. The list is endless. If we are completely honest, even those of us who choose Jesus were almost always initially motivated by selfishness. We wanted salvation, not slavery.
Think about it. How else can we get to heaven? We are most likely just 'hedging our bets'. If Jesus is real we would be screwed without Him. If He isn’t, we still lived a ‘good’ life and are no worse off. Selfishness. If we live a good life in His name, we get salvation, we get to hear “well done my good and faithful servant”, we get crowns to lay at His feet. We choose based on what WE GET.
It's odd that from a very young age I knew what was considered “good” (amazing how close that is to the name of God isn't it?). I also knew what was considered ‘not good’. I tried to be good because I was told I should be, but being bad was so much more fun! Unless I was ‘punished’ for being bad, it had a much stronger pull on me. A part of me wanted to be good, but I also wanted the type of fun being bad ( i.e. sinning) offered. Sin is fun. Everyone around me was sinning and seeming to love it.
Being good has rewards as well. There are people you can impress. Compliments you can earn. I was told that goodness pays off in the long run. It takes much longer to enjoy being good, than being bad. Being bad gives nearly instantaneous results. Other than pride, good takes a lot longer to reach ‘pay off’. Just like a newborn, we usually go for the immediate fulfillment instead of what may be best for us in the long run.
I am eternally grateful for what I realized around the age of 20. The immediate is fleeting. The moment passes quickly, be it pain or pleasure. The defining factor of our lives is what we are willing to wait for, or what we are not. We are defined by what we defer. Be it pleasure or pain, either way, we wait.
We continue to wait for the pleasure that lasts. Either we do so while enjoying the ‘pleasures’ sin has to offer now, though they quickly lose their savor and we must progress to a higher (or is it lower?) level; or we set aside immediate gratification awaiting a larger return in the end. Why is gratification so tempting? Why is it so hard to wait? Why do we want it all 'now'?
I have realised that sin is pleasurable for one reason only ~ because God made it pleasurable. Any pleasure was created by God. Not only that, but each one was specifically made with humans in mind. Each area of pleasure was God's way of blessing us. Smell. Sight. Taste. Touch. Hearing. There was no need for defense when they were created, they were purely for enjoyment. Sin made everything pleasurable also painful.
Sinful pleasure is just the misuse of a tool God created to bring pleasure. Sadly, any tool misused does not work to its full potential. A knife can be a screwdriver, but not very well. It becomes a hollow imitation and often is rendered useless for what it was created to be. Carob does not equal Chocolate. Even Equal does not equal Sugar. Sex does not equal Love. We cannot re-create God’s gifts in our own image without losing something in the process. It is that loss haunts us. That drives us to go farther, try harder, dig a deeper ditch to fall into.There is never enough.
Real pleasure, the way it was created to be, requires waiting. It requires investing. It requires setting aside self gratification and awaiting providential care. It requires trust.
No matter which we choose, we wait The only difference is in the type of returns we get. One is like buying a lottery ticket. The other is a guaranteed bond.
You have to hold onto a bond for a very long time before it reaches full value. A lottery ticket winner is revealed within the week. The lottery pays a very select few and only for a short time. You have to buy another ticket to enjoy the feeling of hope for another week. And even winning lottery tickets have an expiration date. Bonds are not so. They continue to increase in value the longer you hold on to them. They can never be worth less, only more. You are guaranteed. But,you have to wait. You have to trust in the authority under which your bond was issued. You have to defer the pleasures you could purchase with that investment today and wait. That is very difficult to do. Especially on a regular basis.
Satan chose the lottery and lost. He could not wait. He could not invest. He saw what he thought he needed and he went for it. I did that for many years as well. I lived for the moment, only to have it pass all too quickly. I can identify with Satan. I cannot hate Satan, for he only made the same choice I did and still do way too often. I elevate my needs and desires over God's calling. It is only when I choose to Love God and hate Sin that I become a ‘bond servant’ of Christ. That’s the term used in the Word. I am free to choose pleasure or to choose slavery. Seems like an easy choice. Satan could not stay a slave to God when he could do just as good a job and enjoy everything God had to offer NOW, without the waiting. I have the same choice. The difference is that when I choose poorly, I get another chance. Satan was never given even a second chance. His one investment was a losing lottery ticket.
TODAY is called Good Friday. It is Good because one day a few thousand years ago we were given that second chance for the first time. Now, every moment of every day we choose what to do with that inheritance. Do we play the lottery? Continually gorging ourselves on empty hope waiting for the possible momentary pleasure? Only to repeat that wait again, over and over. Or do we invest it in a bond, hope and waiting for the possible eternal pleasure? Either way, we wait.
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