Every day we make tons of decisions. What I think we tend to forget in the rush of everyday living is that even the smallest of decisions we make is guided by a certain power. That power can be good or it can be evil. Some decisions are obvious in their potential to do harm. Some are less obvious. Most of us do not constantly have to discipline ourselves to not murder people with whom we come into contact (although there are days…!) but a lot of us struggle with the smaller decisions.
If we disagree with someone and lose patience or say something mean, that is not an act that happens randomly. Either the good power or evil power is planting ideas in our heads on a constant basis. I believe that God actively takes a part in every individual’s daily life. I do not believe he set the clock but then let it run on its own. Unfortunately, I also believe that the devil is equally active. The devil is many evil things, but lazy is not one of them. He actively seeks our destruction. Think of the dislike you feel for someone who has done you wrong. Maybe they stole from you. Maybe they spread lies about you. Maybe they physically hurt you. The dislike you feel for that person is compounded a billionfold when we are talking about the hatred that the devil feels for each and every one of us individuals on earth.
Knowing how much God loves us is a source of comfort for many people. However, I think that while we should obviously pay more attention to good than evil, I also feel that it is helpful to ponder every once in a while how much the devil hates us. If someone was constantly coming to your house and introducing bad things into your household, would you not set a guard at the door in some form? We constantly need to be on guard against the devil. He is a roommate even when we do not realize he is in the neighbourhood.
The next time we are disagreeing with someone, or thinking about ending a friendship, or making fun of someone, taking advantage of them in some way, feeling anger, or a multitude of other possible sins, we need to realize that these are not random feelings. They are feelings and emotions planted by someone who hates us. We need to be on guard so that he does not destroy us. We should not dwell on evil, but we should realise that we dwell with evil, often without being aware of the fact.
