Accusation NOT Temptaion

I listened to a sermon today by RC Sproul. The man is brilliant. He is one of Marc Driscoll's favorite theologians if that gives you any idea of the weight Sproul brings to the religious community. He was speaking at a conference for other pastors and he was answering a question about bringing guilt into one's ministry. He said something profound and that is "Satan works primarily through accusation not temptation." We often feel that Satan is tempting us to sin but his craft is truly perfected in his constant accusation of the sin which we commit.

What this means is that the Devil is constantly doing things based on long term goals rather than short term achievements. For example, he may achieve success in tempting you to have sex in your teens but his goal is to keep you beating yourself up about it to the point that you can no longer have another fruitful relationship or feel justified in lecturing others about the importance of waiting to have sex until marriage. We are so good about emphasizing God's grace for our imperfections but WE are terrible about having any sort of grace for ourselves. I'm a perfectionist and I know this struggle first hand. Guilt is Satan's most effective tool for it creates a personal sense of inadequacy in our lives that prevents us from attaining any sort of positive forward motion.

Now, there may be confusion when it comes to what exactly we feel after we sin because their is an appropriate sense of conviction we should feel from the Holy Spirit. Sproul said that he has never felt accused of anything by the Holy Spirit but that it brings a sense of correction in almost a sweet, caring manner. We should feel uplifted by the Holy Spirit's conviction of our sins as there is always love and forgiveness when we turn to Christ. Satan is the only one that brings a sense of guilt and sorrow. I felt that these distinctions are vital to having a healthy, christian lifestyle.

I know as modern Christians today we almost have tunnel vision when it comes to what God does for us and how He works in our lives. However, it seems like we forget to focus on how the enemy works as well and we lose out on gaining valuable insight into what he may be doing in our lives as well. C.S. wrote a whole book called The Screwtape Letters all from the perspective of the enemy in order to enlighten us as to what we need to prepare ourselves against. To me, it's just like sports. No team ever just focuses on their offense, no matter how great it is. Every team needs to know what they're up against. It's necessary to know their moves in order to have the best defense. It doesn't mean we need to obsess about how good the enemy may be but instead be confident that our strengths can overpower theirs at every step and that we can protect ourselves from even their strongest attacks.

In the end, it's about having Grace for ourselves when we really screw things up. God showers us in His grace so why can't we have some for ourselves? If we ever find that we are constantly beating ourselves up about any one thing we need to realize that those thoughts come straight from the Devil himself. He delights in our guilt, so rise up. Find redemption and get on with life. That's just my shot at the darkness for now.