I heard a fascinating story the other day and was astonished by its spiritual applications. It seems a man worked at a fertilizer manufacturing plant and had to pass by the same security guard every night. One night, with no explanation, the man walked by the guard pushing a wheelbarrrow full of something the guard couldn’t see that was covered by a blanket. The guard was immediately suspicious, and went to search the warehouse to see if he could spot anything missing. Nothing was out of order. The next night, same scene, wheelbarrow with blanket over it. This continued several nights until the guard could no longer overlook it, certain the missing items woukld be very noticeable by now. He went to the head of the department and was told the employee had quit that day. The guard looked relieved and explained how worried he had been about stolen items and how glad he was the guy had quit. The supervisor looked at the guard and took him to an empty room, which had once been filled with wheelbarrows…

Did you get it? The guard was so worried about what he thought he saw, what he thought was going on, that he TOTALLY missed what really WAS going on! And God has used this to remind me of that very important principle in my own life. In our world today it seems like the bad guys are winning and the good guys are losing..big time. It appears that at every turn Christians are losing their rights..losing the fight for this freedom or that law. There is a lot of truth to that, no doubt. Moral values and religious freedoms are being squeezed and squeezed out of society, often in the name of tolerance. It is a constant struggle to understand who is upset at whom, and what any of that has to do with disregarding the laws of God and sin.

However…just like the guard, it seems like our focus might be on the wrong thing. We, as born again believers, have begun to push back, and to do it loudly. We are endeavoring to make Jesus known to the world, and quick to point out how we feel we are being limited. When there is a loud line of protesters against a Christian doctrine or truth, there is now an equally loud line of Christians shaking signs and fists right back at them. And satan is smiling.

Why? Because he has done exactly what the employee did to the guard..he is distracting us by what we think is happening, so he can carry out his real agenda! We have forgotten several things..(1) that Jesus is the ultimate victor, (2) that people are not our enemy, but satan is, and (3) the only way we can accomplish ANY change is this..sharing the Gospel over and over and over again, and then living it out! Watching the stealing going on right under our noses, we have become distracted by what we think the battle is about, and not noticing what is really going on.

So what’s solution? Just this. The next time you feel anger welling up in yourself, and disgust for those involved in dismantling some new part of our belief system, stop. Look closer! Ask God for guidance, and ask Him to show you what to do. And then, get up, get out, and go share Jesus with someone!!