The Test of Faithfulness

In Revelation 20:3, we see that Satan has been loosed to roam the world after being locked up for a thousand years.

If you’ve gone through a peaceful period and then your world falls apart, you naturally feel that life isn’t fair. And you should. Dedicated Christians get cancer, lose their businesses, have spouses leave them, and struggle with depression. Pagans get fabulously wealthy, sin big with no apparent consequences, and live happy, peaceful lives.

This is why some of us believe that God wants Christians to go through hell to get to Heaven, while pagans go through heaven to get to hell.

There’s a problem with that whole philosophy though. If we really got what we deserved from God, we’d all be dead now.

The blessings and curses we experience in life have nothing much to do with how much we sin or how righteous we are. If God loves us, He has orchestrated the events of our lives to work for our ultimate good.

How does this relate to Satan being on the loose? Christians who live through this will find their faith tested at every turn. Do you really believe that God’s grace is sufficient as He told the apostle Paul when he prayed for God to remove his thorn in the flesh? Do you find when God doesn’t give you exactly what you want, that is, what you prescribe as the solution to your misery, you’ll turn your back on Him forever?

This is how Satan works in the lives of Christians.

Satan can’t get your soul. But if he can make you ineffective in living out the Gospel, then he’s won a victory in your life. He won’t stop testing your faith to see what you’re made of. That’s why you have to remind yourself daily of the wealth that is yours in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Discipline yourself to bank your life on the promise that grace really is enough.

If you want to grab that promise, you have to realize that grace is really bigger than you think. If you’re struggling, it’s not that you’ve made the Gospel too good; you haven’t made the Gospel good enough.

Jesus paid for all your sin. Nothing was missed. You don’t have to live a powerless life anymore. You’re totally forgiven.

Now go live like it and don’t believe the devil.