Terry and I were victims of identity theft a couple of years ago, and it was a long, daunting ordeal going through and submitting all of the many fraudulent charges to the police. This was just an act of evil and a nuisance we dealt with and handed over to law enforcement. For many, though, you might be dealing with the biggest thief of all, and not realize it. We are all dealing with the master of identity theft. He is no joke and should never be discounted. Satan works around the clock, and never takes a break.
Our pastor, Pastor Steve Lawes constantly reminds us, “We have a real and present enemy. He is a thief. He is a liar. He steals from us and takes from us. Make no mistake, he does not ever give up on us. He doesn’t want us to experience the full and abundant life in Jesus! He wants to steal our life.”
I cannot stress this enough: the enemy is real. He is corrupt. He is evil. He is a liar. He is a thief. He is a murderer. He is the source of all things bad. If you can think of anything horrible, he is the author and owner of it.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” - Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
Terry and I also have had to deal with a handful of very corrupt, evil and greedy people who certainly do not reflect Jesus, but reflect the enemy. It can be extremely disheartening when person after person lies to you or steals from you or takes what belongs to you or withholds doing what is right.
One day my friend Jessica texted me a message she wanted me to listen to about justice. She reminded me, “I loved the part of the sermon where she talked about not letting your enemy DEFINE you. We are called to love our enemy. Period, end of story, no excuses. But that does NOT mean that we shouldn’t seek justice.” My sister-friends are so incredibly wise and I crave their counsel.
When Terry and I learned some really unsettling news a while back, I could not eat without getting sick, so I basically stopped eating much at all for a couple of weeks. I could not sleep. I wanted to hit everything in sight to take out my anger over the sickening, wretched news we learned. One day, all I could do was cry. I leaned into Terry and couldn’t help but notice my weakness. As I let myself cry, he could feel me losing strength, and he literally held me up. “We will get through this,” he told me. “I promise. I will not allow anything evil to happen to us.” He truly is my kinsman redeemer. As the days and nights went by and I grappled with the news we had been given, I was growing weaker and weaker.
When I would wake up in the middle of the night and start crying all over, The Holy Spirit would place scripture or song lyrics on my heart to soothe and calm my broken heart. And almost without fail, Terry would wake up and pull me close to him and hold me as I fell back asleep in his arms and God’s arms.
“I know nothing has been wasted, no failure or mistake. You’re an artist and a potter, I’m the canvas and the clay. You make all things work together, for my future and for my good. You make all things work together for Your glory and for Your name. When I doubt it, Lord remind me, I’m wonderfully made. You’re an artist and a potter, I’m the canvas and the clay.” (From the song, “Canvas and the Clay by Pat Barrett).
The enemy wants to steal our peace more than anything. Our fight is not against the evil people who steal from us or lie to us, or cheat us out of what is ours or hurt us, physically. Our struggle and fight is against the enemy, Satan. But you know what? When heaven and earth meet, Jesus is going to restore every single bit of what was stolen, lost, broken, destroyed. We will dwell with God, and the enemy will be nowhere in sight.
If you have no other good news today, you have the best news possible, with the knowledge our eternity does not include the identity thief! We have a spoiler alert. Flip through and read the end … it’s really, really good news.
Love wins because Jesus wins and the enemy loses.
Period.