Skip to main content

198. Children Of The Devil?


John 8:42-47
Key Verse: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent Me."
John 8:42

When you stop to think about it, this is an amazing statement from our Lord. We are used to calling ourselves "sinners," and acknowledging that we, "sin," but do we really understand what that means if we are apart from Christ?

We've done such a good job of white washing sin. We've almost become Laissez-faire about it. Yah, we do stuff we shouldn't, but then, we can just ask God for forgiveness and it's all good again. No harm done and even if harm was done, well, it's good that we have the cross to cling to right?

What if, when you sinned, however, you were called a "child of the devil?" How would you like that? Would that help you to think a little more seriously about your "sin?"

Jesus makes it very clear just how different we are from Him in our natural state. We do not speak His language. We do not understand Him. We cannot even hear Him. We are not tuned into His message. It's not just that our sin causes us to see Him through fun house mirrors, but everything about us distorts how we see and hear and experience Him. We are warped and defective receivers. We cannot function as we were intended until we allow Christ to do the needed repairs, fixing our brokenness so that we can be useful, through obedience, to Him.

Jesus calls the devil the "father of lies." (John 8:45), but his lies are attractive to sinners. The devil began by being jealous of God and convincing himself that he could defeat Him. That was the original lie and we fall prey to it when we refuse to let go of our way and let God guide us into His.

Jesus calls the devil a "murderer, from the beginning" (John 8:44) Satan plotted to get God out of the way so that he could receive all that praise for himself. When he failed in his attempt, he set out to ruin as much of what God had created as possible. When we see others as obstacles, or Jesus as the obstacle to having our way, we do no better. Remember what Jesus said back in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matt. 5:21-22) "I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." Who isn't guilty of acting like the devil at one time or another?

"If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe Me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." (John 8:46b-47) This should help us consider our sin more soberly. The apple truly doesn't fall far from the tree. Only Jesus can pick it up and plant it in a new and better soil that will bear fruit for Him. We resist this truth, constantly hoping for a way around it so that we can fulfill our sinful desires and still have Jesus as our "get out of jail free card," when we need Him. It doesn't work that way though in God's kingdom. We are either for Him or against Him. There is no middle ground. We are either Children of God or children of the devil. There is no third parent to appeal too. It's just as simple as that.

Children of God

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

204. Come Like a Child

Psalm 127 , Matthew 19:13-15 , Luke 18:15-17 , Mark 10:13-16 Key Verse: Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14 The attitude of the disciples isn't much different than the attitude of many people, even Christians, today. Instead of seeing children as a blessing from the Lord, too many regard them as a burden to bear that gets in the way of our own selfish happiness. Family size is determined by what we think we can afford rather than openness to God's blessing, trusting God to provide. Satan hates children. Children represent innocence. The sooner he can corrupt and or damage a child, the happier he is. This is why Jesus warned in Matthew 18:6: "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drown in the depths of the sea." To corrupt or damage ...
Post a Comment
Read more

201. All for God's Glory

John 9 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-12 Key Verse: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3 In this event John records my personal favorite from all four gospels. I love it for its detail. I love it because it demonstrates so much of our human frailty. It shows us how powerful our fears can be in the midst of God's amazing grace and glory. First, we have the disciples who are suffering under the misconception that sickness and unfortunate circumstances are the result of sin only. They are thinking like Job and his friends. If you obey you will always be blessed and if you sin, God will punish you for it. They couldn't imagine that God could have possibly designed this man, blind, for His own glorious purposes. Then we have the neighbors who are all amazed, but then what? What do you do when the mold has been broken? This man was blind and now he...
Post a Comment
Read more