God? Or the Devil?

“As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.”  Ecclesiastes 8:8

Nobel recipient Bob Dylan offered his view on life; he must have read the eighth chapter of Ecclesiastes...

You may be an ambassador

To England or France

You might like to gamble

You might like to dance

You may be the heavyweight

Champion of the world

You might be a socialite

With a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Yes indeed, you're gonna have to serve somebody

Well it may be the Devil

Or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Here’s the problem: the devil is a master just as God is a master. And neither will let us go willingly. Yet, there is a remarkable difference between the two. God loves us; to the point of offering His Son to redeem us from Satan’s clutches. We receive victory over sin and death so we can live eternally in peace with our creator. If we choose to reject His offer He grants us our freedom.

On the other hand, the Devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies”. (John 8:44)

And the biggest lie? If we don’t follow God...we follow our own path. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are born slaves to the devil and remain slaves to him unless we allow Christ to intervene. He’s devious; The devil knows very few of us would consciously follow him so he subtly recasts the choice to “I know what I need more than God knows.” And, we go merrily through life thinking we’re in charge. But, the devil is not going to release us from that misperception without a cosmic fight...one we cannot win on our own.

That level of naïveté is fatal...

So, the question is clear; who do we serve? It’s a binary choice. If not God, there is only one other master.

Live boldly out there today...