Theological Journal – August 14 Living Today

We have an enemy. Three of them, in fact. Paul calls them the world, the flesh and the devil (Eph.2:1-3). Their combined and interrelated devilry keep us perpetually off balance and out of sorts.  It is their mission to disable us spiritually. They draw on who we have become to keep us from becoming who we are in Christ.

As sinners we have become guilty, fearful, and paralyzed. Our enemy capitalizes on these debilities. Past, present, and future are the staging ground of attack. Singly or in tandem each of these are robbed of their Christological potency for us. When they insinuate we are guilty, that our future is uncertain, and/or we don’t really know how to live for God we become

Guilty of the Past which evokes Shame                                                                                 Fearful of the Future which evokes Anxiety                                                                                    Paralyzed in the Present which evokes Doubt.

And we are undone.

There’s no way to undo this undoing except in Christ. Here is the Christological potency I mentioned above. It can be found in Rev.12:10-11:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God
    and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
    who accuses them day and night before our God.
But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.”

 

Christ’s work is done, God’s kingdom come, and the Christological potency of this makes it possible by attending to Christ to defeat our enemy/accuser by

 

Relying on the blood of the Lamb to redeem our past and defang our guilt

Giving themselves to the word of their testimony to energize the present

Turning our future over to Christ even in the eventuality of martyrdom.

 

The song “You Are More” by Tenth Avenue North captures well the thrust of this reflection. Google it on You Tube and take a listen. It's worth it!