Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. 

— Genesis 3:1a

Imagine the following scene with yourself being a part of it, allowing yourself to get emotionally involved in it…

You show up to the baseball field - just in time, too - as the team captains are about to finish picking sides from what’s left of the pool of players lined up along the first base line. You scurry up to the line unnoticed, stand up straight like the rest of the players, and your best friend nudges you in the arm with their elbow and says, “Where’ve you been?” You say, “I’ve been busy…had some chores to do around the house…but then I saw the stadium lights and heard the music, so I got here as soon as I could!” You both giggle it off, get picked for the same team, and join the others on your team’s bench for a little pre-game pep talk.

Your coach is an amazingly motivating speaker - so much so that whatever concerns you had prior to the game have all melted away. This guy’s so good; in fact, your teammates have dubbed him “the preacher”. All is well, it seems. The crowd stands for the national anthem as it’s sung by a local schoolgirl with reasonable talent. The whole affair is building up to a crescendo and you’re now all jazzed up to win! You take the ball field as the team’s shortstop, an infielder position that historically gets a lot of activity. You notice your opposing team getting all pumped up in a similar way, and it looks like they’ve got their own “preacher” for a coach…some of them are so frenzied they look like they’re out for blood! “This is gonna be a good game,” you say to yourself as you rock onto the balls of your feet.

The game is ferocious. Between innings you and your best friend exchange sentiments like, “Wow, can you believe this game?…what a colossal battle!…love it!” The game ends in extra innings, but your team manages to win. Each team lines up to shake hands, saying, “Good game, good game, good game…”, avoiding eye contact with those on the opposing team who were especially unsportsmanlike because of their lack of competitive self-control. Back in the dugout, the “preacher” is beside himself with joy, doling out complements to all, and has just given your team directions to the nearest ice cream shop, his treat. “Doesn’t get any better than this,” you say.

But it does. The game was a lie. The battle was wasted energy. The dirt is real, the skinned knees and dirty socks are all real. You smell of battle, that’s for sure. But it was all a charade, a misdirection, a chance for your real opponent to distract you while he burned your house down. That’s right, while you were at the game, pouring all of your energy into winning, he was dousing your home with gasoline and lighting a match to it. He even stood by for a minute or two, admiring his work, grinning while most of your town was at the game, knowing that your newborn twins, the teenage babysitter, your two dogs, and all your memories were trapped inside.

It’s a gruesome scene…something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life. While you were away “playing the game”, Satan was claiming victory over your life. While you were distracted by what you thought mattered, he was destroying any hope for what did. And then it was too late, his work is done. You’ve lost everything. You find out later that everyone on both teams that day suffered the same fate. No matter who received the trophy, everyone lost.

What most people in this world fail to realize is that Satan is a genius. I’d argue that even the well-educated believers in this world are far too lax in their estimation of his devices. A fine work worthy of reading on this is The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested in contemplating spiritual paramilitary genius. Satan’s not “kind of” smart, he’s a brilliant strategist. Our only hope is to keep studying the Word of God and learn more about how our “adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is far too cunning and efficient to merely jump out in front of you and say, “Here I am, your worst nightmare!” How childish of us to presume such a thing. He’s not Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, so he’s not going to be announcing himself nobly.

Satan, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), has devised innumerable distractions for no other reason than to divide man’s attention. If he can divert a person’s attention through misdirection, he can perform his evil when they aren’t looking. Could this world of technology and instant gratification be more distracting???

While most people are off “playing this game called life”, warring it out with their also-misguided opponents, no less intent on winning than the next person, Satan’s weaving destruction behind the scenes. If it weren’t so easy to fool humans, magicians wouldn’t have jobs. A magician’s greatest skill is misdirection. Satan’s no different.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

— Matthew 7:13

Satan has purposely created “games” that have no bearing on eternal life whatsoever. That’s not to say that the folks playing them aren’t completely invested in winning - most are. That’s not the point - not at all. The point is to keep them playing so that they never play the real game, the one where the Gospel is pitched from the mound. This world is filled with “ballparks” of cheering crowds applauding the next famous idol, the professional sports team, or the latest social cause. Satan’s not jeering man’s stupidity, he’s exploiting it.

The “big game” is God, good, versus Satan, evil. The “little game” has teams labeled “good” versus “evil”, but they are indeed under the umbrella of true evil. The reality is that anyone playing in the “little game” is on an evil team, win or lose. For you math junkies, we might express this as:  Good vs. Evil (“good” vs. “evil”), where the “little game” is in parenthesis. However you’d like to conceptualize it, the simple fact is that most people in this world are playing the wrong game, even though they are playing their hearts out. Their game is organized and promoted by Satan, himself. He’s even hired some of the best preachers on the planet as “coaches”. Ugh.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

— 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

We cannot get caught up in the “little games” in this life, as if they had any real value. From the perspective of eternal life, they don’t. As it is, the world is increasingly less interested in the “big game”, preferring to build new stadiums and promote new franchises. We must keep on “pitching” the Gospel and encouraging others to find the right game to play. It is a “good fight” indeed (1 Timothy 6:12), but let us not be discouraged (even though it happens to the best of us), knowing that God promises that those who seek Him will find Him. Everyone’s invited to the big game and everyone has a chance to play for the winning team.

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

— Luke 11:9-10
Love in Christ,

Ed Collins