For the second time in a year, our neighbors’ house was recently broken into and it really ticks me off.
So much so that by the time you read this, getting inside my garrisoned home will be like trying to break into Ft. Knox. We’re installing a high-tech security system, so to pilferers and plunderers, I say (a la Clint Eastwood), “Go ahead – make my day.”
My technical ineptitude is the stuff of legends, so getting in the habit of setting and disarming alarms will likely be an interesting process. Frankly, I think it would be a lot less stressful to simply stick a few signs in the yard that say, “This is God’s stuff. Take it and you’ll have to deal with Him.”
But alas, we live in a day when a healthy fear of God is on the wane. People feel desperate, and desperation tends to either drive us to God or from Him. Turning our backs on Him certainly greases the slide into moral bankruptcy and crime.
I can sit right here in my office and see my neighbor’s house, but I couldn’t prevent their home from being burglarized twice. That frustrates me. I’m not sure I could have done much damage with my BB gun, but I surely could have called in the cavalry.
But as I stew about these crimes in my neighborhood, I wonder why I’m not even more upset that every day, I meet people whose lives are likely being spiritually plundered.
You see, God’s Word says “the kingdom of God…is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) and that the “kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) — the “you” being those who embrace and follow Jesus Christ.
The hearts of Christians are like warehouses full of righteousness, peace, joy, and other good stuff, but every day, our very real enemy, Satan, backs up a tractor trailer to our warehouse door … beep …beep… beep… and tries to steal this good stuff from us.
Beep…beep…beep…We lose our jobs. How are we going to pay our bills? He carries out our peace.
Beep…beep…beep… The transmission on our car goes out. How can we afford the repairs? What will we drive while it’s being fixed? He hauls off our joy.
Beep…beep…beep… Our teenage daughter has14 tattoos, won’t speak a civil word to us, and now tells us she’s pregnant. Wow — we must be seriously lousy parents. Satan snatches from us the truth that God sees in us the righteousness of Christ.
Satan’s mission is to make us miserable. “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus said (John 1:10). Sometimes we don’t even make it much of a challenge for him, flinging open the doors of our “warehouses” and letting him plunder at will. And sometimes we stand by and let him rob our family and friends, never even warning them that we see a thief in the ’hood.
One of my favorite movie lines is from “Tombstone,” when Doc Holliday offers to fight for his friend, Wyatt Earp. When Doc wryly says, “I’m your huckleberry,” he’s essentially saying to Wyatt, “I’ve got your back. I’ll fight with you and for you.”
I want to speak God’s freeing, loving, protecting truth to the people in my life, and to love them, pray for them and fight alongside them when I see the “thief” trying to ransack their lives.
I’m your huckleberry; I need you to be mine. Let’s be the church.