“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
One thing that holds true of Satan, is his desire to pervert everything that God has made good. As Christians, we learn to see his hand in this world and his influence in the lives of people we know and love. He is like a poison, slowly polluting and bringing to ruin, all he touches. It is a sure sign of his hand.
In his craftiness, we don’t always recognize his mark until we are directly coming against it. Even then, we sometimes have to step back to recognize his influence. This happened to me recently when I started to recognize his hand of corruption in an area I hadn’t seen before.
A sister in the Lord told me about someone she met who had been in active sin and was “forced” to leave a church. While speaking about the woman, she was clearly moved in her heart by the experience and it was evident that she was struggling with what she had heard. What was telling though, was that this woman had been in active sin and was willfully unrepentant. I saw everyone in the conversation immediately get drawn into the emotional circumstances surrounding the woman.
Then I saw the serpent’s mark and 2 Corinthians 11:14 illuminated before me.
We are told that Satan masquerades as an angel of light but how often do we think about how this takes place in our world? At this moment, the Lord opened up my eyes to show me how it can present itself in sympathy. What a sly tool the devil uses to appeal to our emotion by using something so precious and beautiful as the gift of sympathy.
God has given us sympathy so that we can enter into the life of another person, especially someone who is in pain or suffering. It allows us to have compassion and show mercy. It allows us to extend kindness and forgiveness and to show the love of Christ as we come alongside people in need.
I recognized then that Satan also uses sympathy, but in a completely different fashion. It’s similar enough to fool us, as is his way, but it is discernible if you are looking for it. It’s calling card has a particular purpose- to question the character and authority of God, and in particular His Word, by using our emotion and love for others as a weakness.
How often do we see this happen in our culture of tolerance? The current state of our western world has embraced the belief that God’s word is archaic and hateful and has sympathized with the flesh. This is really nothing new. We are witnessing the ruin of its effects in our country and globally as we have embraced a mindset that has exchanged holiness for pleasure. But the perversion of sympathy has made great inroads in the church body. We are falling for it! In this way, we must recognize its mark, be on guard and repent of any and all compromise.
We are called as believers to be a light- definable, bright, steadfast and true, in this dark world. We are not called to live as close to worldliness as our convictions allow us or to embrace the teachings, beliefs and morality of this world. We are called to be peculiar and to stand in defense of God’s word, no matter who is attacking it and where its coming from- be it family, friends, coworkers, entertainers, politicians, fellow Christians, etc.
Sympathy is being used so that you will focus on the creature and take your eyes off the Creator. It sets man above God and our morality above His holiness. When It is used in this way, it is in every sense, rebellion!
I recognize that some people will have their feelings hurt by godly men and women standing faithfully to God and believing His truth over their comfort…so let it be. It is not our intention to hurt anyone. But let us not jeopardize God’s glory, for man’s feelings.
This is about our Lord and His name, let us be faithful and loyal followers of Christ.
Steadfast, immovable and unashamed.
Soli Deo Gloria