A Spiritual Tug of War
I have often written about the power of God and God’s outrageous love. I have written at length about the power of God’s love to transform our lives and our world. Always I write about the power of God’s love within us. Today though, as I prayed with this reading, I realized that no matter how much I want it not to be so, as much as God lives within me, so too does the power of Satan. Now that is scary!
If we allow for the pure love of God, then we must allow for the lure of evil. Both reside within us. I rather like thinking about Evil as outside of me coming to me in the form of external temptation. God can live within me, but I would prefer to keep evil outside the door to control him better.
Do you remember playing Tug of War when you were a kid? I do. We would make a giant mud puddle with the hose and divide into two teams. Then, with a thick barn rope, we would pick teams and square off against each other and pull the rope trying to get the other team to slip and fall in the mud.
Perhaps the most critical part was which team you were on. Who your teammates were was essential. Of course, you wanted the strongest kids. But you also wanted the kids who were fast and had grit. Because you knew that they would never give up. We always put the biggest and strongest guy at the end of the rope as our rudder. He gave the ultimate strength to the team.
As with all picking games, some kids were always picked last. Mainly because they didn’t add much to the game. They weren’t solid or gritty. They lacked the excitement of team spirit or somehow appeared uncommitted or wishy-washy.
So why this trip down memory lane? Because that is the image I have for how God and Satan war against one another right within our very minds, hearts, and souls. There is a constant tug of war with God beckoning us to love, hope, peace, and grace and Satan teasing us with the desires for power, control, and self-righteousness.
That is a sobering thought. Satan always sulking in the background of our psyche, teasing and tempting. He is always waiting for a moment of weakness when he can strike and claim ground in our internal tug of war.
Like in the game we played as children, it matters who our teammates are. We all choose our teammates, and they are both teammates of spirit and flesh.
Our spiritual teammates are the communion of saints. Those living and dead who have fought hard and God won the war in their hearts. We can rely on the Saints; they fought their own battle with Satan, so they understand ours. Our teammates are the Sacraments and, most significantly, the consistent reception of the Eucharist. In Eucharist, Jesus becomes one with us, and we become one with Him. He becomes the rudder man on our team. He is the muscular guy on the end of the rope.
Our teammates are also those we surround ourselves with. They are the people we socialize with and the people who we invite to our homes. Our teammates are our friends. We need to make sure we are choosing wisely. Are the people we surround ourselves with people of God? Are they people who bring us closer to knowing the fullness of God’s love? Are they strong enough to help us fight off the influences of evil when they see them raising their ugly heads in our attitudes and actions?
Undoubtedly, the Evil One is stacking his team with every temptation he knows can lead us astray. He has many teammates, and he selects those he knows will be our most challenging to fight.
Perhaps as we begin Lent this year, it is time to look deeply in our hearts and at our lives and make sure we are choosing good teammates, that we are choosing goodness and holiness. That we are choosing Jesus in Sacrament and God in our friends. That we are desiring God and leaving the Evil One and all his temptations in the mud.
In God’s Unending Love,
