Perhaps some of you who read this post are old enough to remember the old sitcom, “Flip Wilson.” He coined the phrase, “The devil made me do it.” Similarly, some Christians tend to call everything bad that happens to them the work of the devil. That may sound good and spiritual. But it is certainly not always the truth.
The Bible does teach that the devil is a liar and that he is our enemy. And it is his goal is to seek to destroy us. Some seem to take that as a license to blame the devil for everything.
The problem with blaming the devil for everything is that it can render us blind to another possibility. And when we are blind to something, we fail to address it. I’m saying that sometimes, the devil has nothing to do with our problem(s). Sometimes, what we are dealing with is a simple case of us reaping the consequences of our own actions.
For instance, I know Christians who constantly spent money they didn’t have. Eventually they found themselves way over their head in debt. Then they said the devil attacked their finances.
But wait a minute; that’s not the work of the devil. That’s on them.
Owning Up to the Truth about Our Actions
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” Peter writes (1 Peter 5:8, KJV). To be sober denotes clear and controlled thinking. Vigilance requires that we stay watchful and on the look-out for the works of the devil or other dangers. It behooves us to live that way each day.
But sometimes, we do just the opposite. Instead of being sober and vigilant, we make unwise decisions and choices, with no regard for the possible consequences. Such actions have a way of coming back to haunt us. When they do, the culprit is not the devil but us.
It can be hard to accept harsh realities. It’s so much easier to lie against the truth. Yes, the devil does look for every opportunity to exploit and try to destroy us. But brothers in Christ, the devil can’t make you cheat on your wife; no matter how good another woman looks. The devil does not make you steal the property of others. Or cheat on your taxes.
When we suffer the consequences of our own indiscretions, let’s not borrow Flip Wilson’s line. The devil can’t make Christians do evil. We have Christ, the greater One, living on the inside. Denial does not negate reality. It can only intensify our dilemma. The truth, on the other hand, will make us free.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.