Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Heaping coals of fire

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Luke 11:14, 17, 20
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed ... Jesus said, "A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and house will fall against house ... If it is by the finger of god that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you."

Finger pointing. Hand wringing. Weak one sent to take on an impossible task. We are not as strong as we think we are.

Where does evil come from? And how do I respond to it, whether my own evil or yours? Why do I pretend to know more than I do?

Sometimes Jesus, who really is the strong one, points his finger - the finger of God - and the demon runs and screams and fades away. The evil is named and removed, and the mute one speaks. We are all amazed.

Or Jesus holds his tongue and keeps God's finger to himself, as he did on the way to his crucifixion.

Or he excoriates hypocrites with angry sarcasm, as he did the Pharisees. In the face of evil, he spoke up. But he must have known his words would only and strengthen their mislaid self-righteousness.

Dallas Willard points out that Jesus was the smartest man who ever lived.

So Jesus was practical and creative, imaginative and intuitive, aware of God's touch on each moment and also aware of God's big picture.

Jesus was the best tactician who ever lived, and he also understood strategy - our Father's strategy - better than any one of us has before or since. Plus, he saw with clear eyes into the motivations and true desires of his friends, his listeners, those he healed, and his enemies.

A young boy complains about being bullied at school. Then within a couple of minutes he flicks his little sister's stocking cap off her head. She puts it back on. He does it again, smiling. She hits him. The boy turns to tell his mom that she is hitting him.

Mom watches it all, and wonders what to do. Do something! Try stuff. Jesus always did something. We are not as strong, not as smart, and far less certain of ourselves. But we are Christ-followers. I think Jesus' words contain a clue about how we go about trying stuff.

Divide and conquer.

Evil is not always easy to identify. Just like beauty, evil can be in the eyes of the beholder. Projection is not just a river in Egypt. But when I am patient, reflective, and as sure as I can be that what I see is evil, then ... divide and conquer. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

Do not have give and take with evil. Separate victim from perpetrator. Turn to God and away from the devil. Hold up the cross. Find something that is as certainly good as the other is evil, and do it. Say it. Be it.

Never do we overcome evil with evil. Only overcome evil with good.

Jesus fierce commitment to goodness and love is what beat back the demon.

And in that blooming-good-garden-moment, the mute man speaks.

Thank you for your powerful, finger, Father, pointing right in and right at what needs to be loved. Your love is tough, fierce, gentle, kind. It divides evil into floundering, powerless pieces of fluff that blow away in the wind. Mold me, make me with that power too, in your boundless love.

Devotions Archive

Heaping coals of fire

Thursday, March 3, 2016