Years ago, when my son Ben was younger, I was known on Facebook for posting “Ben-isms.” Ben is extremely intelligent and has a quick wit. He is also not afraid to express his opinions, so you can imagine that created some hilarious moments.
Like the time I scolded him for getting angry at a video game he was playing. I warned him that anything in the house that frustrated him would be taken away and without missing a beat he immediately replied, “Oh yeah, well Emma really frustrates me.” Emma is his sister. (Ah, sibling love!) I did not send her away, but I did manage not to laugh until he had stomped back up the stairs to his room.
Or the moment Mike caught Ben in the act of doing something he should not have been doing and told him that he apparently needed more supervision. Ben’s response? “Why? So, I can see through walls and stuff?”
Or the day I received a note from Ben’s teacher informing me he had been caught throwing rocks at recess. He protested fiercely and clarified that he had in no way been throwing rocks at recess but instead was “tossing them carefully.”
Recently, a Facebook memory popped up with one of these Ben-isms: “I try to obey when Daddy says to, but it’s tricky.” I was immediately struck by how applicable those words were to my own life and was reminded of Paul’s description of this struggle in Romans 7. In verse 15 he expresses his frustration, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Anyone else totally get where Paul is coming from? I have to admit that knowing Paul struggled gives me a little comfort. But I had to ask myself again–why is obedience so hard? More often than not we know what we are doing when we sin. Sometimes, it seems we struggle with the same sins over and over and over.
Why?
Because Satan is really, really good at what he does. He makes sin look so compelling. He lies and convinces us that we deserve it, that there won’t be consequences, that God is withholding something from us. He tells us that we are unloved and unworthy so we might as well go ahead and act like it. Satan whispers to us that we are being cheated, taken advantage of, missing out.
Obedience is tricky because our enemy is tricky.
But Ephesians 6:12-18 is clear, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Put on your armor.
Pick up your sword.
Hold fast to your shield.
And pray.
Yes, the enemy is tricky, but we know he has already been defeated through the sacrifice of Jesus, and through the authority of God our Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have all we need to fight him.