How Jesus and the Devil Are Alike, Part II

The second way Jesus and the Devil are alike is this: they both desire the same thing—your eternal soul. Their similarities split promptly and violently after this, however. One promises to keep you safe for eternity; the other promises to destroy you. Which will you choose?

When God created the world, He gave man a free will. He did not create robots, as we would have been without a free will. No, God saw the beauty of a life willingly surrendered and wholly committed to Him. And like the lilies and birds, He desired this beauty too. God does not change; His desire for the beauty of a surrendered life still burns strong today. He longs for those who will come to Him and embrace everything He has done, and completely and utterly let Him mould and shape their lives. He longs for this! His passion is for those who truly love Him. He yearns for you to just give up!—to come to Him and stop trying to fight through life on your own feeble strength, and let Him pick you up and carry you. This is the purpose we were created for.

The Devil, on the other hand, will do everything within his power to keep you from thinking about God, much less learning about Him! It would be a terrible loss to let a perfectly good soul go to heaven, instead of populating the pits of hell forever. The Devil will do anything, at any cost, just to get you away from God. He wants your soul for his own! He longs for you to turn your back on God and everything good, and follow the lusts of the flesh. And the Devil will do anything to achieve this. He wants you at all costs; his hate of God is so strong that there is no cost too great for victory. The Devil wants your soul—burning in the pit of hell.

The difference is how these two go about achieving their goal. God sends His Holy Spirit to encourage and lead a person to Him. He will not force anyone; He cannot. He gave up that right when He gave man a free will. But He can draw people to Him, provided they do not stifle the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Satan is quite the opposite. God is passive, Satan is aggressive. He’s the one chomping at the bit, straining forward to get at a person. Anything, everything possible to tear down a person and bring them away from God, he will do. There is nothing that is more satisfying to the Devil than to see someone hurting God.

Both Jesus and the Devil want your soul. One will kill to get it, the other will wait patiently for you to realize you need Him. How long will you keep trying on your own, completely at the mercy of Satan’s schemes? How long will you keep God waiting? You can turn your life around in minutes, accepting the Supreme Power of the universe to come live in you. He will protect your soul and shield you from the relentless blows of the Devil. So how long will you keep Him waiting? Click here if your answer is no longer.

“If we tell Him our sins, He is faithful and we can depend on Him to forgive us of our sins. He will make our lives clean from all sin.” ~ I John 1:9, NLV