whose side are you on?

a person’s last words are usually pretty important.

“my prayer is not for them alone. i pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and i am in you. may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. i have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— i in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (john 17:20-23)

these words are the last part of what Jesus prayed as He waited to be arrested before His crucifixion. that probably means this was a pretty big deal for Him. so if one of - if not THE - greatest desires of Jesus’ heart was for His followers to be united, wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect the greatest focus of satan’s attacks to be destroying that unity? if unity is what causes the world to believe that Jesus was sent by God, then i imagine satan would spend a great deal of his time and energy trying to sabotage it.

and what’s the best way to destroy unity?

enter the green-eyed monster.

i’m writing this with an episode of ‘how i met your mother’ on in the background, and guess what i just realized that it’s about? yup - jealousy. it ruins friendships, marriages, parent/child relationships, work environments, and yes, churches. we can’t see the reality of a situation because we get so caught up in vying for position. and sometimes we’re worried about the most insignificant things, like hair, or body type. can you just imagine how powerful Christians could be if we were able to present a united front in these areas instead of being divided over petty differences. don’t you see that when we let that happen, we’re letting satan get his way.

the Bible is full of examples. joseph’s brothers are jealous that their father likes him more than them, so they throw him in a pit and leave him for dead. they think that getting rid of joseph will keep his dreams from coming true, and foil God’s plans. saul is jealous of david because all the people like him better, so he tries to kill david and forces him into hiding. saul thinks that if he gets rid of david, then david won’t be able to take his rightful place as king. the pharisees are jealous that Jesus is making ‘their’ rules and regulations obsolete, so they come up with a plan to crucify Him. they think that getting rid of Jesus will keep God’s ultimate plan for salvation from succeeding.

it’s a good thing we know the end of the story. and it’s a good thing that no scheme of man (or satan) can ever thwart God’s purposes.

as joseph says when he is reunited with his brothers, “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (genesis 50:20)

God’s goal is always the saving of lives. and He is going to accomplish that, no matter how hard satan might try to keep us apart. it might not go the way we had hoped or planned. we might make it more difficult for ourselves than it needs to be. but it will be a whole lot easier if we do it together, instead of against each other.

what do you need to lay aside so you stop working on satan’s side?