A day in the ruins
Apparently it was a poster that was used in Britain during the Second World War. In a campaign to ensure that people observed the blackout, and avoided loose talk about military installations and any conversation that could give information to spies, the poster yelled, ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’. Sometimes I think a similar poster would be useful in our churches and homes. In my own life, I feel that I have reacted to those Christians who have taken an extreme view of spiritual warfare. For them, every difficulty in daily life presents an opportunity for the devil to be blamed and a demon to be chased away. In wanting to avoid that kind of paranoid thinking, I believe that I have swung to the other extreme, and often live unaware and unconcerned that I am actually doing life on a battlefield, and that hidden forces of good and evil are enjoined in battle in God’s universe. Paul calls the Ephesians, not to be demon obsessed, but rather to be alert to the truth that the devil is active and that he is a strategist - notice Paul’s language about schemes. But also remember that this news of a wily opponent is placed in the context of the greatness and power of God: Satan and Jesus are no co-equals. As Tom Wright remarks, ‘the devils are a beaten, sorry lot’. So Paul insists that while a battle rages, we have all the equipment necessary to enable us to stand firm. Years ago, the eminent preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, complained that all too often, the church forgets that there is a devil, and I confess that I have been guilty of slipping into that amnesia. When I forget, I wander cheerfully around the battlefield, feeling invincible, apparently unaware that traps might be set for me - until it’s too late.
Today, in the battles that we face, let’s stand firm, resolute, alert, strengthened by the Holy Spirit.