This means war

I have to confess that sometimes I live as if I were a materialistic naturalist.

By this I mean that I think and act as if matter is all there that there is, and as if all things can be explained naturalistically and thus all problems can be solved naturalistically. I remember that I have a spirit as well as a body (although I don't always think about it very much), and I remember God who is the uncreated self-sustaining Spirit, but I don't give much though to angels or to demons. Most emphatically, I act as though angels and demons have no influence over my life or over the world I live in. Considering that we're in the middle of a spiritual war, with the eternal destinies of human souls at stake, that's probably not a good attitude for me to assume. But I honestly haven't thought about spiritual warfare very much at all, beyond some vague idea that the whole thing is a nice metaphor for being a good person and a diligent follower of Christ.

Over the past few days, having had the issue brought to my attention from at least three separate sources, I've been thinking that maybe it is more than just a metaphor. I don't like thinking that way! The thought of malicious spiritual beings bent on my destruction, active and unseen in the world around me, is extremely unsettling. I like this world where what can be seen or otherwise scientifically verified is all that exists, besides God - where all things proceed by natural laws, and known inputs lead to known outputs, and nothing is out of place or uncontrollable. It is very comfortable, you know? Acceptance of a spiritual reality is in a sense truly a release of control, because while we can often control nature we cannot control the actions of spiritual beings whose very existence is only tenuously revealed to us. For someone like me that is absolutely frightening.

But when I seriously look at the Bible I see that, despite my fears and despite my ingrained way of thinking, there is a real spiritual war going on. In 2 Corinthians 10 we see Paul saying that even though we are in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, but fight with weapons that are mighty in God for "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." Similarly, in Ephesians 6 he tells us that we are struggling against the "rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". So the armor that he tells us to wear in the following verses is more than a metaphor - it is truly spiritual armor that protects us in this war in which we find ourselves. I think that may be one of the purposes of the book of Revelation, actually - to show us the reality of the spiritual war that is going on all around us, so that we might be strong in battle instead of ignorant sheep wandering towards slaughter.

Coming to Revelation, though, one finds more than just a vivid picture of the reality and significance of this spiritual war. We see that the war will end, and we see that God will win, and we see that all things shall be made new in beauty and glory and peace. Essentially, we see that there is a hope to live for, because of the greatness of our God! It might be frightening and unnerving here and now to think of fighting and struggling with evil spirits in our everyday lives, but it doesn't need to be, because of the power of our God and our confidence that He is indeed on our side. If we have placed our faith in Him, He holds our souls safe even as we fight on the front lines of the war.

This almost makes me want to laugh in the face of the demons! Ha! Bring it on! My God is greater than you and you are doomed and already defeated! I'm not afraid of you, or anything you can do, because God is on my side! I'm not sure that is the most beneficial or humble response though... :) One thing is certain, though - it is better to live and fight and be vigilant against sin in the strength of God then to passively cower in fear and try to make everything comfortable and controlled.