If you believe Jesus is the Son of the living God, then you must also know that there is a very real enemy of our souls. He has one simple goal: to lure our hearts away from God. The Word of God says that our enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy us and everything we are.
And he isn’t shy about it. He will disguise himself to make his offers more appealing, but never does he relent or change his message.
He wants our attention, our peace, and our souls… and worst of all he has learned to hide in plain sight.
For some, his attempts for our attention and peace come more obviously this time of year.
He has managed to convince us that fear is fun. As a society, we have become entertained by it. We pay money to see horrific acts played out on the screen, and we pay money to be scared. We have decided that we enjoy being afraid.
Don’t we see how wrong this is?
No, I’m not talking to those who do not know Jesus is the Son of the living God… I’m talking to those of us who believe. Who know our enemy is real and yet do not avoid his blatant lures for our attention.
Scripture says, “For I have not given you a spirit of fear… But of power and love and a sound mind.” If the spirit of fear does not come from our Heavenly Father, who are we inviting into our hearts and minds? Who are we being entertained by? Who has our attention? To whom have we sold our peace? And why don’t we care?
Think I’m wrong? 78.4% of all American adults claim that they are Christians… That seems like more than enough to boycott any demonic horror film and have it be a bust… But nope. One specific horror movie just this year grossed nearly $87 million dollars from its US summer showings. We line up and pay to have our peace traded for fear.
But you know… I want you to hear love in this. I want you to hear your Heavenly Father say, “I paid for your peace. My Son spilled His blood for your sound mind.” He doesn’t want us to be entertained by fear and He doesn’t want us to be afraid.
So, no, you will not find the Thompsons at a horror film. We will not be in any haunted houses or pay to walk through zombie filled corn mazes. Not because we are above it… Because He is above it. Because knowing who is in it causes us to avoid it… and now, compels us to remind our brothers and sisters in Christ to do the same. Fear isn’t fun. It is a foothold for the enemy to take ground in our hearts and minds.
God loves us, friends. God sent His Son to die for us to restore us and our thoughts back into rightness with Him. It is time to take back the ground we have so blithely given away… Because He is worth it and the peace and joy He has given us is invaluable.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
