To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 2:10-11 “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

In the statement above, Paul gives us insight into one of the hidden spiritual realities that is going on behind the scenes in believers’ lives.  Paul unmasks for us the fact that although we can’t see Satan with our physical eyes, he is nevertheless at work among us. He has schemes by which he works to fool us.  If we deny this, he has already won half (or more of) the battle.  You see, it is by His Word that God opens our eyes to spiritual things, unseen things, things that can have great influence on our lives, both for good and for evil.  So, how does this unseen evil angel work? What are the schemes by which he would wreak havoc in our lives, families, and churches? 

Well, one way is by the temptation to sin.  Satan constantly “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  For this reason, Peter urges us to “be watchful” for the hidden work of this enemy whose objectives are nothing more than “to kill, steal, and destroy” (John 10:10).  This one who was created as the most beautiful of all the angels (Ezekiel 38:12-15) specializes in making the blackness of sin appealing to us.  The Lord warns us of those through whom Satan works, such as “the adulteress with her smooth words” but whose “house sinks down to death” (Proverbs 2:16-18), and those who would entice us to take advantage of others for our own supposed benefit (Proverbs 1:8-19).  Satan works to entice the unwitting to “enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) in exchange for a lifetime – or worse than that, an eternity – of regret and destruction. 

But then another way that Satan works to outwit believers is in their response to others who sin.  One such response is the temptation to ignore sin within the fellowship of believers.  The Bible is clear that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). In other words, the unconfessed, ongoing sin of one person in a church (for which leaven is a metaphor) can have a wide-ranging negative influence on the entire body of believers.  It’s something that should never be tolerated.   Jesus has given us clear guidance on a step-wise method by which to confront such sin (Matthew 18:15-17). But how many churches actually practice this?  It’s so tempting to avoid confrontation, a temptation that the devil will gladly help facilitate.

But then, another scheme, the one which is being addressed in the passage from 2 Corinthians 2 above, is the temptation to be unforgiving, to hold on to the hurt or to constantly hold someone’s sins against them.  Again, this is just another side of the same coin, a scheme of the enemy to wreak havoc and maximize pain. 

May God give us eyes to see the insidious schemes of the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy the unity and fellowship of believers, friends, and families. May He help us to not be ignorant of Satan’s hateful designs and thereby unwittingly play into his hands either with our response to the temptation to sin or in the ways in which we deal with sin when it occurs.  God has warned us of Satan’s schemes in all of this, but thankfully, He has also given us clear instructions on how we can unmask and defeat such schemes when they come.