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We Wrestle Not. . .

In our Sunday School this week our passage of study was Ephesians 6.

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12 ESV)

I think that this message is one that we forget too easily.  Our struggle is not against people - it is against the forces of the Devil.  The people who represent the "other side" in the battle are ultimately pawns of the Prince of Darkness.  They are people for whom Christ died.  They are people who can be liberated from the enemy's control through the power of the Gospel.

The problem arises from the fact that we can't see this enemy.  Only his victims are visible to our earthly sight.  Hence, it becomes too easy to fight against abortionists or liberals or homosexuals or Muslims.  We wrestle against flesh and blood.  We pray for them.  We love them.  We preach the Gospel to them.  And in so doing we fight against the one who holds the real power of wickedness - Satan himself.

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