heavy on the dark, easy on the light..

underestimation runs heavy in christian communities. we tend to give the benefit of the doubt to our own strength, forgetting the power of the one who fights agains us. i see it daily in my own life, and in the lives of other christians.
it starts with those little white lies: 'its not that bad, eveybodies doing it, you won't get caught, you're only going to do it once.' the atomic bombs that were dropped on nagasaki and hiroshima during world war II were not that big. but their effects were.

firt off, we have to give satan some credit. he's pretty good at what he does. he's quite the networker; he has organized an entire hierarchy of demonic slaves who's only job is to wreak havoc on our lives, and to maintain our singleminded, conforming, selfishness. satan twists truth into lies, rapes what is righteous, and distorts what is holy. and he knows just how to keep us from seeking Christ.

a personal issue in my own life revolves around a job i have just recently agreed to take as a construction manager. it would pay well, considering my lack of college education and experience. that sounds like one excellent opportunity, and it is, IF i don't get caught up in making money, and IF money isn't the end-all.

americans today are decieved in thinking (this is my opinion by the way) that somehow WE are the church and that God spends most of his time on us. i don't think that is true. partially because of His omnipotent-ness, the fact that he is not bound by time, and the fact that we here in the states spend much less time praying, thinking, fasting, and just plain praising Him. yes we are blessed, and yes there are hundreds of thousands of christians here in the states: but we are also the most complacent. happy just to sit on our butts once a week and play church, while trying to meet the grueling expectations of a rich culture the rest of the week. a culture, mind you, that is tended by satan.
i'm sure you've heard the phrase that the devil's best trick was convincing people he did not exist. yeah, i think that's pretty accurate.

now obviously God has blessed us, but what God has blessed us with, Satan has made into an idol. just as Satan turned the Law of Moses into a stumbling block for the Pharisee's, so has he turned the material blessings of the Lord into a Golden Calf for us.

Pray that you are not decieved by thinking you are the most important person in your life. You are not.