Doves On Distant Oaks

Eyes on the Prize

My youngest son served in the Army and spent 15 months in Iraq during 2007-2008. He never talked much about his experiences, and I never asked specifics. One day I asked, of everything he either had or carried, what was the one thing a soldier could simply not survive without. His answer was immediate—his eyes. If you can't see your enemy, you can't defend yourself.

We have an enemy, in fact, a whole army of enemies. No, our enemies are not atheists, or pro-abortionists, or Hindus, or Muslims, or any manner of persons. Those are part of the population known as our neighbors, whom we are told to love. Our enemies are in the supernatural, spiritual realm. The head of that enemy is the Great Deceiver, Satan.

In the book of Revelation, Satan is called the accuser. His sole purpose is to accuse us of our sin, condemn us, and shatter our assurance of our relationship with God. In doing so, he causes us to take our eyes off God and turn them on ourselves. Essentially he is blinding us to our true enemy.

As a result, we tend to focus on what we can do to get our relationship with God back. Our eyes turn to our own performance, and we start rationalizing our sin. We may say, "Sure that sin was wrong, but I'm not so bad. Look at all the other stuff I don't do wrong. After all, I don't commit any of the really big sins." In essence, we start depending on our own righteousness. Talk about being blind to the truth.

The only righteousness that counts is the righteousness of God which we have received through Jesus Christ. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags, but we are covered by God's through Jesus Christ. The great reformer, Martin Luther, once said:

So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!"

It's only when we, seeing the truth of God's righteousness and cloak ourselves in it, that our eyes clearly see our enemy and his impotence. It's much easier to fight against him that way.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

–Romans 3:21-24

Keywords: Christ, Enemy, Righteousness, Sight

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