I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy. He never asks us to be his servants. Never once did the serpent say to Eve, ‘I want to be your master.’ The shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it is always from Christ to self. And instead of His will, self-interest now rules and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin.” (Dennis F. Kinlaw, “This Day With the Master”).
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1, 5, NIV 1984).
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but here in the United States people are becoming more-and-more obsessed with “personal autonomy,” “self-interest,” and individual rights. It’s kind of in our DNA, so to speak (“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”). But if we are “in” Christ Jesus, we have a “mutated” DNA with a change in our nature. Unfortunately, our old nature lurks in the shadows. So, we must “be self-controlled and alert. [our] enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” (1 Peter 5:8–9, NIV 1984).
My Advice – Being alert is only half the battle. How do we maintain “self-control,” “stand firm,” and “resist him?” We have a not-so-secret weapon. For, “[we] did not receive a spirit that makes [us] a slave again to fear [and our old nature], but [we] received the Spirit of sonship [our new nature]. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15–16, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 