Monday, April 27, 2009

THE REAL ENEMY


I saw an unusual western the other evening. It was really a sci-fi western. The location was a small western town in a desert area. A stranger came to town to deliver a simple message; “destruction is coming, a whole horde of poisonous copperheads are headed for the town.” His message was simple, destruction is coming, prepare, or get out of town while you still have time. The problem was, no one believed him. Everyone in town had their own plans and dreams and ideas about what was important. The sheriff was a coward and most important to him was just playing it safe. The girls in the bar thought what was most important were keeping the customers happy. One young man had his eye on one of the bar maids and felt the most important thing was to win her to himself. He was also interested in finding some easy money. There was one really mean hombre who wanted the stranger to stay so he could win his money in a card game. When that did not happen, his obsession became to kill the stranger. Each character was different yet alike in one thing; they held their own priorities, and were unconcerned and unbelieving about the destruction that was shortly coming their way.

The climax to the story came when they realized that they had to work together to save the town and its inhabitants. They discovered that the real enemy was not each other, not the personal circumstances that life had handed them. The real enemy was the snakes headed their way.

A twist in the story came at the end when after killing most of the snakes, they discovered that they were only baby snakes, and momma was in their midst and she was as large as a dinosaur. Again they worked together and were victorious. The last scene was everyone leaving town heading their own direction in life, but having learned a lesson they would not soon forget. In the process they actually learned to respect each other.

By The Way, I realized that the TV show I was watching was a moral play about life itself. Often we are so focused on our agendas, our desires, and our needs we forget who our common enemy really is. We thing that neighbor is our enemy who complains about the location of the property line between us. We presume that the world is our enemy, when as a Christian, the world is our assignment. We think that our enemy is anyone who keeps us from getting what we want. The Scripture says “Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack.” 1 Pet 5:8 (Contemporary English Version)

The Devil sends out his “babies” or demon angels to destroy us and if they do not succeed He may come himself. We need to realize the “God Factor.” 1 Peter 4:4Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God's Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. 5These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. (Contemporary English Version)

We must realize that God’s people working together, with the Spirit of God living in us can defeat anything the enemy throws at us. It will mean changing our priorities and our often narrow opinion of our fellow Christian pilgrims.

BLOGTHOT: THE BEST WAY TO DO AWAY WITH THOSE WE THINK ARE OUR ENEMIES IS TO MAKE THEM OUR FRIENDS

1 comment:

Jim said...

Broco,
Good analogy and lesson for so many today. Isn't it awesome to truly realize that we have been given a God-powered promise that our true enemy and all his "babies" will be overthrown, and cannot touch our blessed hope!
Jim