“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV

We are not each other's enemy.

You don’t have to look too deep into our culture to recognize an ever increasing climate of outrage, suspicion and disunity. It’s everywhere now. And it’s not limited to political spheres or social media anymore. These sentiments are being echoed in our kitchens, the grocery stores, playgrounds, PTA groups, and even in our churches. It’s obvious. We are at odds with one another. And it seems that this outrage has seeped into all arenas of personal choice and opinion. It’s like somehow we forgot that every single person on this planet has unique experiences, upbringings and personalities and that all of these things and more affect a person’s interpretation of events and creates a one of a kind perspective. We used to think that these differences were the things that made us stronger and were the reasons we could grow and become bettered as a society. But that’s not the case anymore. Instead, we persecute people for believing differently than we do. We label them. We shame them. We discredit them. We refute them. We place our perfect hands over our perfect ears and deny them the gift that has been given to them and to the whole world: their own voice.

We are not the enemy.

He is.

He’s been around since the dawn of time. He has been whispering in our ears since we first walked on this planet. He’s cunning. He can take on any accent, language and dialect; even hijack your own voice. He is a master manipulator. He’s a deceiver.

He is a liar.

And we are all listening.

“Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary is like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him...” – 1 Peter 5:8-9 ESV

His name is Satan, the Devil.

Our history with him goes back to our ancestors Adam and Eve. Satan led Eve to doubt God’s love and faithful provision and finally managed to convince her to disobey God by telling her a half-truth: “You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil…” – Genesis 3:4-5 ESV

Here’s the truth. If the fruit was eaten, Adam and Eve’s lives would eventually lead to death but not immediately. That wasn’t what God said, He said to Adam… “ you shall surely die,” not you WILL die... but Satan is crafty and he deceived Eve with a half truth and by placed doubt in her heart. I remember a book I read where the author explained that Satan never starts off with an obvious lie but rather a half-truth. Something that appeals to our reason and logic and makes us question what we thought to be true. He leads us away with a series of sorta-maybe truths that eventually lead to our demise.

Here are some examples: Democrats/Republicans are the only ones who care about human life. People who don’t vaccinate/People who do vaccinate are the only ones who are educated. Parents who send their kids to public school/Parents who homeschool their kids love their kids the most.

Fill in the blank. There are thousands of these thoughts out there influencing how we interact with one another. We need to call them out for what they are: LIES. And they are destroying us. It feels like Satan’s gaining more ground everyday. Satan’s strategy has been the same. It has never changed because it is so incredibly effective.

He lies to us but he also distracts us with good and right things. We don’t turn into monsters overnight. He leads us away with good intentions and a million other good things: Knowledge, Comfort, Security, Efficiency, Legacy and the list goes on. But as we start to pursue all of these good and right things something starts to happen: we start to forget the BEST thing, THE reason we do anything:

Love.

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease, where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the way of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13 NIV

Let’s be honest here. Knowledge fades away. Facts are disproven. We all have things that we have felt strongly about only to have our minds changed based on new information, experiences and relationships. That’s one of the marks of maturity: The ability to humbly accept that we know less than we think and to be open to learning.

One of the worlds greatest minds, Albert Einstein, is credited with saying this: “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” But there is one thing those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus DO know: Christ saw us in our sin and He died for us, He rose from the dead and He is seated at the right hand of the Father, all that we may live with Him in eternity; all because… He loved us.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

We must lean into faith. Faith that God is in control. That He is good and that he sits on His throne. We must not give in to fear. We must hold onto hope. Hope that knows that no matter what human beings accomplish, both beautiful and evil, that God can and will use them all for His glory. And we must love. We must. We must serve and pray for and listen to our neighbor. We must pursue the brokenhearted, the proud, the fearful, the unjust, the selfish, the grieving, the poor, the suffering because that is what we all are made of. We are all in need of a Savior.

So when we are tempted to draw lines in the sand, throw stones, be wise in our own eyes; When we start to value being right over being like Christ, when we are tempted to say degrading and hurtful things; I pray these words would stop us in our tracks: