The Devil
My wife and I are planners and, to make matters worse, we’ve never been able to just relax on vacation. Today is Sunday and one of the activities we planned early in our trip planning process was to go to church this morning.
The oldest church on this island just happens to be a Christian church and 14 years ago we renewed our marriage vows there near our 25th anniversary. So this church has special memories for us.
Anyway, we got up this morning after swimming with the Manta Rays the evening before and we were both tired. As we chatted, the idea formed to skip the island church service and go somewhere and relax. We decided to watch Patrick’s sermon on the internet (because of the time difference, it was only about 7am here but was early afternoon for y’all). After we finished watching the sermon online, I turned to my wife and said that I thought we should go to the island church.
You see, when I first got up, I was feeling tired and a little sore from hauling my butt back into the boat the night before but as I watched Patrick’s sermon, I started getting a little energy. When I suggested we go to the island church, my wife asked me if she thought the devil was planting thoughts in our minds to discourage us. Without thinking, I replied absolutely.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” - James 4:7-8 ESV
“Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” - 1 Timothy 3:7
We got dressed and went to the church. We were early (go figure) and my wife reached out to the people from the other car that pulled into the parking lot at about the same time. She saw a music stand in their trunk and that got the conversation started with Chauncey and Vicki. Well, they were most of their praise team and pretty soon, Chauncey was playing the guitar and singing.
If that wasn’t enough to convince us that we had made a good choice, part of the service was about the churches recent 204th anniversary. Chauncey again figured in this because he had researched his family tree and one of his ancestors was one of the wives of King Kamehameha, the ruler who conquered and united the Hawaiian islands. She accepted Christ and, through her son, Kamehameha III, brought Christianity to the Hawaiian Islands. I’ve already forgotten a lot of the details of the story but the moral of the story was to show how people are used by God to bring Christianity to the world.
“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Anyway, we both left feeling blessed by the fellowship of fellow Christians. Did the devil lose his gambit? Yes, praise God!
