It's just a game that they play. One by one they choose a victim. They study his weaknesses and prey on her insecurities. They look for the hope in their lives and do whatever they can to destroy it.
Many people believe all humans are born corrupt—that we are innately evil creatures. I'm not so sure that's true. I think maybe we're all just born lost, confused, and scared. We're born apart from home and our father. Our hearts pull us toward light, but our bodies pull us toward darkness. Falling is a process.
It's a twisted game—more evil than I care to understand. They devour us with smiles on their faces. They lead us into darkness to watch us die. They tear us away from any kind of love. And it all starts with a simple lie.
It's easy to believe a lie when full of fear or loneliness or heartbreak. We search for an escape and there are only two ways to run—toward the truth, or toward a lie. Unfortunately for us, the truth is only a straight narrow path while the lie is everywhere else. We want an answer to our pain.
And so they say, “Just take one drink,” or, “What's the point in trying?” They tell us, “You can never win so you might as well conform.” “Just give up.” “Give into lust.” “The narrow path is not worth traveling.”
And so eventually or immediately, we give into that lie. It's just the way we are. But that lie only brings us more pain. We feel even worse than before. We feel like something was taken from us, and we don't know how to get it back.
And once they take that first piece of innocence, they attack us even more. “Keep on drinking.” “What's the point in living?” “You've given yourself up once so you might as well keep going.”
We fall further and further into this mess and we can't see a way out. We feel alone. We feel cold. We feel empty. And the whole while there is a nagging at our hearts that we want to ignore because we know that the nagging will lead us to the truth, and the truth has become too frightening to face. We know we're not worthy of it.
And they rejoice. They laugh and howl and taunt us. They pull us further and hurt us more deeply. They torment us with our past and tell us we have no future. And we believe them—those liars who dwell in the darkness because they, themselves cannot bear to be near the light.
But we are not left there to die. Our creator did not forget us nor did He abandon us. He reaches out for us. He calls us by name and tells us that in Him we can be free.
But they curse us. They try to cling to us and pull us down. The scream more lies into our minds. They say we can never be forgiven. They say God isn't real. They say love is a thing that can never be obtained. And again, we often believe them.
But we can choose not to believe them. We can choose to break free from the hopeless lives we've created for ourselves. We can reach out to our God and be saved from any torment. We can choose to stop letting evil rule our lives and to rejoice in a salvation given to us because of love.
And suddenly we see their lies for what they are—tricks to keep us enslaved so that we will die and know no joy. And we grow strong so that we can crush them under our feet. We are given the power to overcome them any time they attack us. We become children of God.
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