We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle!

I jokingly say that this (mis) quote from Ephesians 6:12 is Philip's translation of the passage. This Philip, of course is Philip Heath, not Philip as in J.B. Phillips (author of a well known translation). As a young Christian I found myself wrestling with many things. In an earlier post “Delivered from Heroin, but I cannot quit smoking”, I told of a friend who was delivered from heavy drugs only to find himself wrestling with trying to quit smoking.  I also suggested that God has many a purpose for leaving us with lesser addictions, even when He delivers us from things we cannot by ourselves escape. I want to say more today.

The NIV translation of the verse in the title is “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.  To put it another way, we are in a war to the death with the invisible, but very real,  enemies of our souls (see “You believe in the Devil? Give me a break”).  One person put it this way,  'the Christian is a walking civil war'. One of the pictures the Scriptures paint of the Christian is that of warrior. We are intended to be soldiers in this war with the unseen. Our true fruitfulness and our rewards in the hereafter are directly related to out willingness to enter into that war, and in particular to wrestle to death the baser side of our human nature, that side the Scriptures describe as fallen.   We are given weapons to use in this war (II Corinthians 10:3-4).  And once again the process of receiving them and putting them to good use has to do with cooperation with,  and obedience to,  the prompting of the Spirit of God in our lives.  It is a fact (unless like the repentant thief on the cross we die immediately after conversion) that we will all come to times of testing.

In the end the battle within, is a battle for the heart. We do not learn to sail on a calm sea. Rather is it in the storms of life that our true metal is seen for what it is, whether good or bad.  It is helpful to think of the Old Testament warfare as analogies or pictures of spiritual warfare in the New. In this light the following verse gives insight into the Lord's purposes in allowing (or at times even sending) trials. “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2). The wilderness of course has to do with lack, it speaks of difficulties,  of difficult times.

We may not like the trials, we may not enjoy the times of testing, but these are the times of growth (or not).  We are unlikely to lead those we love into the Kingdom, if we do not (over the long haul) demonstrated the reality of the work of the Spirit within us.  Many times we are the only Bible our loved ones will read. Whether they admit it or not they are watching. What kind of selfishness is to show by our unchanging behaviour that we don't care about their eternal destiny.  After all growth is the only real sign of life.  What does it all mean, unless we are in the process of being changed? What sort of (lack of) appreciation is it of the sacrifice of the Son of Love, that we would fail to enter into  His purposes for our lives and for the World?  What sort of short sightedness is that that we choose the fleeting pleasures (and future pain) of sin, over the rewards of righteousness?  We are not our own, we are bought at a price, and the only reasonable  response to that, is to glorify God in our bodies  (I Corinthians 6:19-20).

The good news is that we do not have to do this alone. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  When we cooperate with Him, give Him our all and allow the difficult times to draw us to Himself, He becomes our exceedingly great reward.