Thursday, October 8, 2009

It’s So Simple
Deliver Us
Part Ten

But deliver us from the evil one… That’s right, the evil one! Most people know this part of the prayer as “deliver us from evil” but the bible actually says “the evil one”. Uh oh, does this mean that there is an evil one? As in someone trying to hurt me? Yep, that’s what it says. It’s so much easier to think of a nebulous enemy. Some evil force of nature or bad luck something that just happens because I may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when I read deliver us from the evil one I realize that there is in fact an evil enemy who has a job description as told by Jesus in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;” That’s not good.

The really difficult part is that the devil doesn’t look like the devil. It would be so much easier if he wore a red suit with horns and carried a pitchfork. Then I could see him coming and avoid all of the unnecessary trouble. Instead, oft times he comes as a slick, smooth operator who lulls one into a sense of security and then slaps ‘em up side the head. This too is not good.

As I have stated in a previous blog (It’s So Simple, Temptation part nine), God doesn’t allow me to be tempted more than I can handle and that is very good news. Earlier I quoted Jesus as saying in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;” but that’s only the first half of the verse. This is how Jesus completes the sentence. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

So let me see if I have this right. A-Satan wants to steal, kill or destroy me and B-Jesus came so I can have life and have it to the full. I choose B! As I have been saying for a while now, it’s so simple!