Sometimes I am informed by well meaning ‘super Christians’ that this following Jesus malarkey is really simple stuff. Read the Word – do what it says. What could be simpler? Take for example this beauty from James.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7b)
Once I understand that it should be fairly straight forward. I resist, he flees. Simple.
So those well-meaning brothers and sister are somewhat bemused by how others seem to struggle in the resisting. It should have been simple, but it appears to be a bit harder to apply in real life. A brother has a persistent problem and in as much as he prays and fasts and does the spiritual hokey-cokey (including the turning around, of course) he always seems to fall back into that persistent problem. Rather than loving encouragement or stern rebuke, the brother is pointed to this scripture and made to feel a failure because evidently he’s just not resisting hard enough.
Very real life case that I’m aware of, some brothers fall into the sin of lust. It’s something that the culture around them makes normal and acceptable and they adopt it almost unconsciously (it’s not that innocent, see the first part of James 4 for more). as with a lot of situations they only discover the negative effects of the sin when they’re deeply entrenched in it. In the early stages it was thrilling and exciting, but now they see the thrill for what it is, but it’s apparently too late, they are hooked.
The solution rendered by some is for the brother to find a good woman (apparently they exist!) and rather than ‘burn’ settle down with the woman, get married, enjoy marital rites and thus the lust problem is solved. Ta-da! Simple.
Of course as men will inform you that is not necessarily the case. The solution to the sin is not found, sadly, in the good woman. (By the way good women do exist, I should know my wife, mother, sister, cousin, sister-in-law and numerous other profound sisters in Christ prove that. Don’t tell them that, though, it’ll only go to their head. Agreed?) Indeed for a season it may appear as though the lust has abated as the energies and devotions to that good woman. It won’t take too long, though, for little stirrings to take place and that results in the trigger that can send the poor brothers spiralling again into the trap of lust.
What’s the problem? Is the woman not good enough? Is the brother just too pathetic to just read James 4:7b and get a grip, because it’s that simple?
For what it’s worth in my own humble opinion (as shaped by my understanding of God’s Word) the answer to resisting the devil goes a bit deeper than just reading the Word and doing it. There is something between the reading and doing. That is believing. Believing as more than simple reciting or mental acknowledgement. Believing as the ongoing process of taking on wholly into the being what is implied in that Word. That process is not something we flick on and off as though we are the Masters of the Universe. This is a spiritual affair – and that leads to the root of the problem with our lustful brothers.
As the keen scholars would have noticed, I was being a bit cheeky in just giving you James 4:7b, I really should have given you the whole of the verse, in fact the whole of that section offers much to help understand how resisting the devil works.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:7-10)
The simple scientific experiment states that if you bring two magnets together they will either be attracted to each other or repel against each other. Either way there is a force that repels or attracts it. (Gotta use simple scientific experiments as science wasn’t my favourite subject at school.) You’ll note throughout the section of scripture James is imploring the brothers and sisters to be attracted to God. That is to say, sin problems are problems of attraction and repulsion – as in ourselves we repel against God, so it’s no wonder we are attracted to the things that displease Him and tragically lead to our own destruction. The worship lifestyle is based on a renewed heart that is attracted to God. That attraction takes on board the elements that James outlines – submission, purification, contrition, humility. These help to explain why Jesus mentions in his chat on the mount that those who mourn are comforted.
Deeper still, heart-felt recognition of problems like the lust deal (you can add others like gossip to that list) leads to acknowledging how far we are from God, how sorrowful this makes us because of the evident dysfunction that pervades our being. That should also lead to an acknowledgement of the need to be drawn closer to God and purified in the light of who He is and changed as a result.
That attraction underpins what it is to resist the devil. We repel against him because of our attraction to God. In seeing who we’re attracted to, the devil has to do a runner. It’s like the classic Tom and Jerry set up. Jerry in running from Tom will get to the dog. On seeing the dog, Tom will do a runner to avoid getting a battering. That’s not because of Jerry, but because of who Jerry is linked to. The devil will not resist me because I do the spiritual hokey-cokey (and by that I’m in no way degrading prayer and fasting, I know those to be vital, I’m referring to ritualistic approaches to these disciplines where action is divorced from spiritual connection). The devil resists me because of the Great One that lives in me. He sees the shadow of the dog (I wonder what that spells backwards?) and He does a runner.
Every sin then for the believer is an opportunity to go through James’ words of advice – submit, confess contritely, purify, humble yourself. No room for pride. No room for being haughty. Every space given for vulnerability and throwing complete dependence on the One who loves us more than we can ever know. Those same brothers struggling with lust (and for some that struggle will be with them for the rest of their lives) experience freedom … in Christ. Freedom in referring back to the one they are attracted to. In essence they can resist the devil, because they are otherwise magnetised. It is that attraction to Christ that helps the love they have within them to be pure and exclusively for their married partner. It is that attraction to Christ that helps them confess their weakness in the area and take the steps He gives them to overcome.
This is not a battle they wage on their own – because they know the futility of it – rather in that blessed community of fellow-strugglers they find strength in a corporate dependence on Christ that informs their individual walk and supports them every step of the way. Even when they stumble they either pick themselves up, or more often than not, let their brothers and their Ultimate Brother, pick them up and restore them to that path of righteousness.
I encourage anyone who struggles with their daily walk with Christ and the things that could so easily hinder them to embrace the truth in the Word God gives through James. It isn’t as easy as some make out, and it is a process, but it is a worthwhile one. It is a joyous one. It is a life-fulfilling truth that can liberate you to experience more of the depths and heights of life in Christ. As long as when it comes to the devil and the things of this world, you are otherwise magnetised.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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