WHEN THE DEVIL COMES TO CHURCH

The devil is a master of deflecting attention from himself and getting us to do his dirty work.

We live in a world that is reeling from psychic pain, a pain so systemic that it invades every area of our existence. You can see the emptiness in people’s eyes, you can hear the anger in their voices, and you can feel the frustration radiating from their bodies. You may even have been on the receiving end of physical, emotional or verbal violence. It may even have happened to you in church.

You see, the devil comes to church every time we in the church, war and fight with each other. That word said in anger, that critical attitude, that unforgiving spirit, gossip and slander, an accusation with out investigation; every time we fail to simply be kind or demonstrate compassion, give someone the benefit of the doubt we are doing the devils work on his behalf.

The bible is clear about the personification of evil as represented by the devil. It is his job to scheme against all that is good (Ephesians 6:10), to try and turn every good thing into pain. It is also his life’s mission to “go about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might destroy”. His work is to create a counterfeit to all that is God’s, including counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders (2Thessalonians 2:9).

It is time for the church to stop doing the devils work for him.

The church must become a place of safety, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
The church must become a place where forgiveness flows like a mighty river, where love pours down upon those who fail and restores them to new beginnings.
The church must become a place where words of compassion and understanding rise up against judgmental attitudes and where the redeemed people of God seek to understand rather than be understood.
The church must become a place where people can discover truth, uncompromised, but swimming in an attitude love, birthed out of the depth of understanding of who we are and what God himself in Christ Jesus has rescued us from.
The church must become a place where we cut people some slack, but not leave them to rot in their own messes.
The church truly must become a bride, a glorious church, with out stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, holy and blameless. (Ephessians 5:27)

The church can only become a safe place, as you and I allow Christ to transform out attitudes and behaviours into attitudes and behaviours that reflect his character and his nature.

We can accept the wounded and broken and remind ourselves that we too are wounded and broken and if it were not for Jesus, we would not be here.

We can simply refuse to be offended, we can maintain an attitude of instant forgiveness, by not allowing any judgmental word to stick to us or come from us.

We can start by refusing to let our mouths say anything that is not helpful and constructive, whether that is in the form of the spoken word, the written word, or a thought word.

An old spiritual song says “Shut de door, keep out de devil”.
Maybe “de shut door” begins with “de shut mouth!”