The Innocent Evil Henchman

I absolutely love watching televisions shows with the classic “Good vs. Evil” plot line. You know, the evil villain no one can conquer, and the surprise hero that comes from humble beginnings. The hero triumphs over evil and they all live happily ever after. However, this is not my favorite part of the plot. I like the henchman. More specifically, the innocent henchman that wanes between good and evil the whole time. I feel as though this is where we are at in the church when it comes to our sinful nature.

In churches all across the country, you will find those Christians who cannot choose between the evil master or the good master who is constantly calling out to them. They will be all about going to the club and having fun, but the moment the evil master says “How about a drink?” is where they begin to feel the urge. “I don’t know boss, maybe we could just go and do _____________.” Then as the evil master shows their true colors and urges the Christian to drink up, the fight becomes less and less.

Our urges might not be drinking. We could fall for the urge that we don’t like to talk about in the open. The urge to lust, to steal, to cheat. I could go on for blog posts just listing the different urges we can have. We all have that evil master who stays with us. It is the moment when we change our master to the one who is Good (Mark 10:18) that we have a chance.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus speaks on this exact point. It is the idea that we as Christians can serve two masters. However, Christ says that it is impossible. Serving two masters would cause us to hate one or hold one closer that the other. When we are going back and forth saying we are a Christians, but willingly submitting to that evil master, we show ourselves trying to serve two masters. Yet, in all of this we prove Christ’s words. We begin to love the urge more than the commands of God, and ultimately abandon our service to God.

Just like in Romans 10:9, we are called to make Jesus Lord in our lives. What this means is to surrender completely to Christ as master of our lives. This is the active choice to follow Christ with all of our beings. Does this mean that the evil master doesn’t get a word in? No, it simply means that when we get that urge that we give the hard “No”. We realize that our Lord is someone who we want to follow and make the master of our lives.

The best part of all this is that we do not have to take on this fight alone. Devoting ourselves to the Lord and wanting to be a part of the Family of God, we come to find God helps us. This help-meet that we are given in God is the best thing that can ever happen to us. God goes out of God’s way to transform our hearts to be able to battle the urges. We are to be Transformed and not Conformed, and God helps us in that.

 

 

(clip from Disney’s Emperor’s New Groove)