Geeks know things.
Geeks know what it means to live for a cause.
And geeks know their enemy.
I mean, come on: We’ve seen Satan a thousand times in a thousand places.
- We’ve shuddered at his greed manifest in the haughty agent Smith.
- We’ve felt his fiery rage in the sheer power of the Balrog.
- We’ve seen his shadow lurking in the relentless drive of the Terminator.
- We’ve loathed him in the guise of defiling conquerers in Rob Roy, in Braveheart, and Gladiator.
- We’ve feared his soulless chaos through the Joker in the Dark Knight.
- We’ve recognized him in the beastial and acidic Xenomorph queen in the Alien movies.
- We’ve recited his maddening poetry in pointless slasher flicks.
You get the idea.
Geeks Know their enemy.
And not only geeks. The world reeks with the rot of humankind’s unholy partnership with the prince of darkness. His handiwork is everywhere. Which is why Paul says of Satan, “We are not unaware of his schemes” (II Corinthians 2:11).
We know he loves to steal, to kill, and destroy. How could we miss it?
We know he’s a liar and a deceiver, too—it’s all over the news.
We’ve watched him systematically destroy families, companies, marriages, dynasties, and too many lives to count. We know our enemy, backwards and forwards. We know he tempts us to compromise. To fixate on the wrong things. To be selfish. Prideful. Independent.
On paper, that is. And onscreen. And in theory. In theology. We know how the devil works.
What we’re blind to, it seems, is how he’s at work in us personally. How we’ve already given in, agreed with his lies, and rented him a room. Some advice:
Know thy God is first. His word is truth, our North Star.
Know thy enemy is second. We’ve already got that covered.
But know thyself is just as critical, because it helps us make the first two personal and eventually, practical. Which is why C.S. Lewis wrote, “May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.”
I dare you to pray a prayer every day for one week. It goes like this: Lord Jesus, guide me into all truth. Show me where I have given the enemy a place, where I have given in to the enemy’s lies, where I have been living the enemy’s purpose for me. When you reveal, I will repent. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Dare ya.
Geeks know.