March 13

With whom do you sympathize? He is your prince whose victories and losses you take to heart. What do you say when God's Spirit stands in the threshold of your will and blocks the sin Satan is soliciting? If on Christ's side, you will love Him all the more for keeping you from sin. But if otherwise, you will harbor a grudge against God because He kept you from your heart's real desire. When Satan returns, as he surely will, he will find you still pining for the lust that was turned away from your door. And he always gratifies the soul that longs for sin.

When you see God blessing the efforts of His children, how do you respond? Hearing that the Gospel thrives, does your spirit swell in songs of praise? If you are still a child of the devil, any triumph over sin is a defeat for your camp. The sound of the saints' rejoicing will clang in your ears like a miscast bell. You will go muttering to your house, like Haman, inwardly furious that some favorite sin of yours has been snatched away and given to Christ for destruction. But if God is truly your Father, your heart will leap to hear the bells of victory whenever sin is defeated by your fellow soldiers.

Have you joined the troops that fight to subdue the insurrections of evil men spurred on by Satan? Just standing on the sidelines and cheering other saints to victory is not enough. You too must run the race that is set before you. If you are a saint, you belong to God and you run, not for yourself, but for Him. His desires must come before your own. If subjects could choose where they would like to live, most would ask to stay in the palace with the prince. But usually this is not in the best interests of their lord. So those who love him must not only gladly deny themselves the delicacies of the court, but volunteer for service along the border where the enemy is strongest. And they thank their prince for the honor of serving him!

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