The Real Winner

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly

John 10 : 10 (NIV)

Scripture Reading: John 10

Post by: Lindsey L

This weekend I had been spending a lot of time pondering current events in my head, looking to God to make sense of it all, when the verse above popped into my mind. Steal, kill and destroy were the words that really got to me. Each one of these things had been accomplished in the past few days. The exact things that the thief (Satan) is looking to carry out. I immediately pictured him, sitting wherever he sits, being pretty proud of himself for the ground he has covered in the United States this past week. This image made me sad, and weighted down my already heavy heart. It seems like he is winning, and I am sure he thinks he is. But then, the second part of this verse began speaking louder to me than the first. The hopeful part. And then I remembered, just a few chapters later, we are granted even more hope from Jesus. John 16:33 says “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

As long as we are on this earth, there will be evil. Hatred, racism, murder, injustice, disunity, poverty, and disease will not end. However, we have such a great hope in Jesus’ return that this should not shake us. We should not look within our own strength to fight these battles, but to the strength that the Holy Spirit grants us. We should do our best to point others toward Christ, so that they may live in the same freedom and extend it to others. We should love sincerely, hate what is evil and cling to what is good… help those in need, bless those who persecute you, live in harmony and peace with everyone, rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn, and never repay evil for evil (Romans 12:9, 13-17). Love and forgiveness should always be on the forefront of our minds. These things will have a much greater impact on the world than the negative. The greatest example I can use to remind myself is that as Jesus was unfairly hung on the cross to die after being publicly beaten, he asked his Father to forgive the very people who did it to him (Luke 23:24). That is the kind of love that makes Satan run and hide, and allows us to live our lives here on earth to the fullest.

Photo by Anqi Lu on Unsplash