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Satan in the Suburbs – Seth McBee

Suburb pic

Satan. Lucifer. Beelzebub. The devil. Whatever you want to call him, most of us treat the adversary as though he is a biblical fairy tale. Historically, it seems as though Satan gets too much play or none at all. We either blame everything (including burnt toast) on him, or nothing. Rarely have we dealt with him in the middle, knowing he’s against us, but understanding our Father is greater.

For my life, I’ve mainly dealt with the devil as an afterthought. I have believed in Satan because as the song goes … the Bible tells me so, but I have never believed that he influences my everyday life.  He’s there, but don’t mention him.

Here is what I have found out, practically, about the devil as I have tried to live out the mission of making disciples in my suburban neighborhood:

  1. Satan attacks disciple making.
  2. Don’t be surprised when he attacks.
  3. God is glorious, so we don’t have to fear others, including the devil.

SATAN ATTACKS DISCIPLE MAKING

What I have found out is that Satan is present among disciple makers who are actually doing the enemy’s will masked in God’s favor. What do I mean by this?

For years, I never made disciples of Jesus. Did I make disciples? Yes. Everyone makes disciples, it’s either of yourself or of Jesus. This is one way Satan attacks discipleship. Although I believed I was making good little moralist people whom God would be so glad to have on his team, I was actually drafting soldiers that were fighting well against the gospel–making the gospel seem unnecessary. I was doing Satan’s work for him.

A little over three years ago, the tides changed. Stripped of my moralism, the good news was finally … good news.  Although I grew up in the church my whole life, not until the law was shown to be subject to the Savior instead of the savior itself, did I see how beautiful the news truly was. When this happened, everything changed.

(continued…)