“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot – far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.” (Revelation 3:15 MSG)
“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT)
Ok, followers of Jesus Christ. Here’s the deal:
…you and I have a relationship with both Jesus AND the devil.
Please don’t swear at me; it’s not becoming.
We’re either loving God, AND the things He loves, or we’re compromising. Compromise plays right into the devil’s hand.
Our relationship with God, through Jesus, is a family relationship. We are born of God. His sons and daughters.
Our relationship with the devil is an adversarial relationship. He is NEITHER family nor friend. He’s not a friend of our Father, and Father does not hire him to give us schooling on particular subjects (like patience).
There is NO communion between light and darkness.
But sometimes we ignore that truth and begin to live in a confused state. That’s when Jesus speaks to us in a not so friendly tone.
Jesus told the Laodicean church (the cream-of-the-crop, best-of-everything, we’re-the-cutting-edge, pay-attention-‘cuz-we’re-good group) that, basically, they made Him sick.
“You make me want to vomit”, is how He put it.
That’s just the kind of stuff the devil, our adversary, loves to hear Him say.
However…
As we remember that God is our Father and the devil is our adversary, and not confuse the two, the Lord embraces us while the devil becomes sick to his stomach.
Sweet!
The Father loves you; live in the power of His love.
The devil hates you; give him all the more reason to be upset with you by acting like the Son of God.
Either the devil will spit you out of his mouth, or Jesus will. Depends on how you’re living, and who you’re trusting.
Embrace God’s way of living; leave a bad taste in the devil’s mouth.
Jan Grace 