Ep380. Holy War.
Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
After discussing how Christians should crave milk like babies and grow up into a spiritual house, Peter presents another metaphor: holy war.
He tells us to abstain from evil desires which wage war against our souls (1 Pet 2:11). What? Is he telling me to take up a sword against myself?
War is ugly. Gaza wrecked by Israeli bombs and missiles. In Ukraine, body bags and dead soldiers. Everywhere, veterans crippled physically and emotionally. Is that how Peter pictures my soul?
I have long been uncomfortable with bloody Old Testament war stories, and for years I resisted metaphors of the Christian life as war. Struggling with depression, fear, and loneliness, I steadfastly refused to interpret my life as a spiritual battle. But I regularly prayed the Apostle Paul’s armor of God for myself–the bulletproof vest, the battle boots and battle belt, war helmet, shield, and sword (Eph 6:10-18).
What’s that, you say? I engaged in spiritual warfare while refusing to believe in it? Indeed I did.
Scripture is full of war stories, from the Battle of Nine Kings in Genesis 14 to the Battle of Armageddon at the end of history. Between these bookends, Jesus said, “I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mat 10:34). Paul wrote, “We don’t war against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of darkness” (Eph 6:12). And in today’s scripture Peter warns, “Abstain from evil desires that wage war against your soul.”
Peter doesn’t linger long on his war metaphor. He just briefly mentions that two parts of me are at war: my evil desires in conflict with my soul.
Do you think he means that my evil desires of lust, greed, revenge, resentments, obsessions, and fears are tossing grenades at my self-control? And that my self control should shoot them down or toss them back? Like a movie where you count the action in explosions per minute?
Not a pretty picture of my interior life. But realistic, I think.
“Abstain from evil desires that wage war,” Peter says. His metaphor warns that our evil desires are soul-destroying superpowers if we let them loose.
Let’s pray.
Our father, the Old Testament is full of people with evil desires, at war with themselves and each other. The Israelites, the Philistines, Assyria, Egypt, Babylon: violent actors on the stage of history where you are working out the salvation of our world.
The New Testament, written during Rome’s violent domination of the world, tells us about Christ’s torture and death, and uses war metaphors to explain our Christian life.
Teach us to live out our personal war with evil. Teach us to war against evils everywhere. Teach us to wear the full armor of God.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube
Pray with Me 