An odd realization

This morning I was going about my daily routine before I head off to work, as for the time being I work weekends as well.  As I was rinsing my hair of the shampoo, something occurred to me.  I have no idea why it hadn't come to mind before, and I know this is something I have seen and/or heard other places.  Additionally, as with anything else I write, I do not believe that I am the only or first person to think of this.  There are thousands of years of theological thought preceding my tiny life.  Understand, I do not think myself some amazing wise woman for this thought.

The thought I had was simply this: What if the devil tempts us for a reason beyond simply being angry and hateful, with a desire to rob God of us, and us of God.  What if the reason for this is not just jealousy, anger and hate.  What if the reason he does this goes a little further: He wants to prove to God that we are unworthy of Him, of His love, and His attention.

Why this came to mind this morning I am not sure.  I wasn't considering the devil and his war against us.  There was nothing on my mind to do with why God gives us His love and attention.  Considering things is something I often do, and perhaps I was thinking of my gratitude for all the amazing love He does give us, but I always consider it the love any perfect parent would have for the life they give to another being.  For God I always considered it natural.  Just as I believe that God, in spite of all that the devil has done, still loves even him and His heart breaks knowing the way the devil rails against Him.

The idea that the devil would see us as unfit is something that I honestly think I have heard before, through sermons or TV shows or movies or music.  Thinking of this concept this morning was simply interesting because it seemed to come out of now where.

We are meant to be greater than the angels, and our prayers aid them.

Still, I had to wonder why this would matter.  I'll be entirely honest, I am still not sure there is only one reason.  What I can say is having this realization gave me a new angle on this war the enemy wages on us.  To me, having this perspective in mind gives me another tool to use in times of temptation and when things become a struggle.  Another thing that I think it may eventually lead to is to help others in their struggle in different areas one day.  This is something that may not matter to some.  Yet to some it may help them to fight if they understand this perspective.

For some reason I find myself wondering today, now that this has occurred to me, if some of the things spoken of in C. S. Lewis's work, and I'm sure other's besides, leads back to the reason for the great rebellion in the heavens was that the enemy was told by God, was shown by His hand, what his designs were for the earth and what Man would be, and the enemy, feeling jealous, decided that this was a mistake on the part of God.

This entire idea leads to a still further set of burning questions and concepts to me.  However, the only thing here that really matters to me, truly, is this: God made us, in His image, with a plan for us, and the devil may or may not think of us as a mistake.  Some, not all, but a portion of the wicked things that happen to us, the way some of us go off the rails entirely and act out in violent and unthinkable acts, or even in small acts of shame and wickedness, may be due to the forces of the evil one trying to push us to ever greater acts to prove how unworthy we are.  To show God that creating us was a great mistake.

I believe that we are no mistake.  I believe that even one of us choosing God over the world, just one in one thousand, or even one million, or even one billion, to God, is a victory.

We are not mistakes.  The bottom line here, I think for today, is that if even just you, sitting and reading this today, chose God, you alone in all of history and time and space, know that God will consider it victory.  Always.

It is my opinion, in the face of this, that Job is an illustration of this point among others.  The devil wanted to tempt a righteous man to wickedness.  In no small part, perhaps this was to prove that even the best of us are simply unworthy of God and His love.  The great commission was to love.  Perhaps today, with this in mind, we can choose to prove the devil wrong, one act, one thought taken captive, one unkind word left unuttered, one change of action or response at a time... May I be better today than before.