Missing the Point - One Year Devotions for Men

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“You say I am empowered by the prince of demons. But if Satan is fighting against himself by empowering me to cast out his demons, how can his kingdom survive? . . . But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you.” - Luke 11:18, 20

Ever since the Supreme Court passed down its decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States, the subject has been one of an intense debate that shows no sign of abating. Those who favor the decision like to classify the sides in the argument as those who are “pro-choice” versus those who are “anti-abortion.” Their descriptive choices clearly indicate their biases! Why not describe the sides as those who are “pro-life” versus those who are “anti-babies”?

The supporters of abortion frame the argument as a matter of freedom of choice on the part of women and a refusal to allow government to interfere in the most intimate areas of a person’s (the woman’s) life. In endeavoring to counter those arguments, one salient point is all too often overlooked—or ignored. In the USA for three decades now, up to 1.5 million babies annually have had their lives ended and have been denied the right to live before they were even born! In other words, the argument for “freedom of choice” totally misses the point that 1.5 million people per year are being denied the freedom to choose!

Sometimes we become so wrapped up in a relatively minor aspect of an issue—in this case, a woman’s right to choose—that we become blinded to a monumental aspect of the issue—in this case, the extermination of millions of babies. But there’s nothing new about this strange human aberration. For example, Jesus performed miracles. Modern men tend to dismiss the accounts of the miracles, either by saying, “Miracles don’t happen,” or by saying, “The primitive people of Jesus’ day didn’t understand what we understand and they characterized as miracles what we now know were perfectly normal events which can be readily explained.” But no such argument took place among the eyewitnesses! They didn’t doubt for a moment that Jesus performed miracles—they only debated how he did it. Some said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons!” (Luke 11:15). Others, not so sure, played it safe and “asked for a miraculous sign from heaven” (11:16).

Jesus quickly exposed the fallacies in the arguments of those who saw him as an ambassador of Satan by asking the question, “If Satan is fighting against himself by empowering me to cast out his demons, how can his kingdom survive?” (11:18.) Good point! Why would Satan, the prince of demons, spend his time and energy destroying demons? As Jesus said, “A kingdom at war with itself is doomed” (11:17).

Those who thought Jesus was being empowered by Satan were missing the point! The point was simply this—while they were arguing about how he performed the miracles, they were overlooking the fact that the miracles were demonstrating unambiguously that “the Kingdom of God [had] arrived” (11:20).

It is tragic to be arguing about freedom of choice and government intervention—both legitimate concerns—while missing the point that babies are dying. And it is disastrous to argue about miracles and miss the coming of the kingdom!

For Further Study: Luke 11:14-28

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Men, Copyright ©2000 by Stuart Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Stuart Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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