Troublesome Topic: SATAN USES OUR INTELLIGENCE AGAINST US

One way I know Satan recognizes our intelligence is that he makes his arguments sound logical. In reality they are based on false foundations, but he makes them sound logical to appeal for our desire for logic.

Here are some of the statements that Satan makes about the nature of God, about us, or about life. They are false, but he makes them sound true.

Always reject self-pity and the idea that we deserve better. We don’t deserve anything except God’s wrath. Whether the idea of deserving something better comes from Satan or from our own mind does not matter much; it is a lie and must be rejected immediately.

3. “You’re a good person. If God won’t let you into heaven, you don’t want to spend eternity with him anyway.”

This one is closely related to the one before it, that you deserve something better. In order to say that you are a good person Satan removes the standard of God’s righteousness and substitutes in its place the standard of other people’s goodness on a sliding scale of comparison. Since there will always be someone who is a worse “sinner” than you, then you must be okay.

This is similar to comparing anchovies and boiled okra, items which, in my opinion, do not deserve to be called foods. Depending on your preferences, one may be just a bit more awful than the other. But, according to this logic, since one is worse, you should be happy to fill up on the other one. Right?

4. “God cannot be a good God and allow so much suffering in this world.”

This sounds like truth, but it is based on false premises:

1)  It assumes that we deserve life to be easy and free of suffering.

2) It ignores the biblical teaching about the origin of sin and its resulting suffering and death.

3) It ignores the fact that God has already provided the solution for sin, and He expects us to accept His provision into our lives and begin living as He desires.

5. “You don’t measure up to the Hollywood standard of beauty or strength; that makes you a loser.”

Wait a minute. Is Satan talking about that standard of beauty which leads to the photo shopping of almost every photo on the cover of a magazine because those models just aren’t quite perfect enough? Is he talking about that standard of beauty which is so elusive it is even out of reach for models?

Yep. That’s the standard Satan criticizes people for missing. He sets up an impossible standard and then attacks you for not reaching it. Far too many people have believed Satan’s message that a lack of physical beauty, defined by him, is a lack of value.

Realize that our culture is fixated on physical beauty, but it is an elusive goal, impossible to attain, and those who come the closest to achieving such physical beauty find it to be hollow, over-rated and difficult to maintain.

It is better to be beautiful on the inside and allow that inner beauty to spill over onto the outside, than to be beautiful on the outside but be filled on the inside with ugly things like envy, anger, bitterness, grudges, criticism, etc. The best kind of beauty is the kind that will look more attractive and winsome the more someone gets to know you, instead of the kind that looks great at first but serves only to cover up things that would drive people away the closer they get.

So stop listening to Satan’s messages about feminine beauty or manly strength; they are all lies. Instead look into God’s mirror called the Bible and learn to understand what God thinks of you and how to make real and lasting improvements to the real you.

The next lesson is Satan Uses Our Desire for a Good Reputation against Us