Shane Legler

In June of this year, the United States Army celebrated 250 years of service. The Army necessarily preceded the country for there would have been no nation had there been no Army to fight for it. On the Army flag, the motto flies over the Phrygian cap, which represents liberty, and of course, the motto is “This We’ll Defend.”

The idea is that it is the liberty of the American people that the Army exists to defend.

As we celebrated Independence Day, I had cause to reflect on all the blood that has been sacrificed defending American liberty from the Revolution to this present hour. Yet, in this fallen world, anything worth having must be continually fought for. Every generation must pay their own price to keep what previous generations have handed down to them. This doesn’t just apply to nations. It applies to every good and beautiful thing.

The devil is in the world and his own are always about the business of corrupting and being corrupted. Just as there is no good so small that God will not stoop to do it. Neither is there any good so insignificant that Satan won’t take pleasure in seeing it trodden underfoot. The enemy is always at the gate. Therefore, we must always be ready to resist him.

That said, our primary means of resistance is to simply hold to the truth.

As the Lord Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

At his trial, the Lord testified before Pilate that he came into the world “to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice,” John 18:37 said.

Of course, the cynical are inclined to scoff with Pilate as he responded, “What is truth?” Pilate had been so ground down by the world that he no longer believed there was truth to be had.

Yet, the truth is not arbitrary or subjective. It is as hard as granite and as unyielding as iron. The word of Jesus is truth. The Gospel of Christ is truth, and by it, anyone may be set free from sin and taste and know the forgiveness and goodness of God. Jesus died to free us all from the bondage of sin. It is his will that we should all believe the truth and live that we may all experience the blessings of his liberty.

Furthermore, the heritage that Christ has given to us in this time and place is worth fighting for. When the devil and his children try to get you to question the word of God and erase the name of Christ from the public square, they are attempting to bring you and your children back under the bondage of sin. Since the Gospel of Christ is our only means of peace with God and eternal life, it is nothing short of eternity that is on the line.

Sometimes the devil’s own come in the form of actual armies. In Europe, the armies of Islam conquered all of Asia Minor, North Africa and Spain. All of these places had known the light of Christ’s word. Yet, they were violently plunged into darkness. Those who would not submit to Islam were killed, and those who did submit were made into slaves. The Europeans who fought to reclaim their homelands from that evil were right to do so. 

Yet, it is far worse when the devil can just slither into the garden because the one who should have been manning the gate is asleep at their post. This is how God’s very vow meant as a promise of God’s mercy toward humanity was twisted into a symbol of pride, which is the devil’s very heart, and now, that flag of pride is blasphemously hung above altars that had been dedicated to the worship of Christ, who taught us to walk in humility rather than in pride.

If we love the Lord Jesus, we must hold to his word. It is that simple. Yet, he has cautioned us saying, “because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold,” Matthew 24:12. Lawlessness is sin, and it is easy for a Christian to see all of the lawlessness abounding in the world and grow hardened in our hearts toward our fellow man. After centuries of fighting to reclaim their homeland, the Spanish became very hardened. In the end, the cruelty of their enemy had made them cruel.

The Lord has told us to overcome evil with good. In resisting the enemy of our souls, we must never come to resemble him. As 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, if we have not love, we have nothing. The Apostle John adds in 1 John 4:8, “anyone who does not love does not know God for God is love.” How can we fight without letting our love grow cold? It is the same for all who fight wars. Remember what you’re fighting for. We do not fight for hatred of an enemy but for love of Christ and all he loves. In this case, those who oppose us are the very ones we are fighting to free from the bondage of the devil and his lies. It is the very lawless of this world that Christ came to seek and to save. Therefore, for the love of Christ, we fight on.

(Shane Legler is the pastor of Powell Church of God.)