Satan is the chief enemy of mankind. His desire is to destroy everyone, to gather as many as possible to spend eternity with him in Hell. His mission for the unsaved is to make them think living for themselves is really living. He wants to keep them and will use any tactic to do so. For the Christian, he is constantly seeking to persecute and destroy their faith. To inflict pain or temp with the things of this world. If he can’t keep them from coming to Christ, the next best thing is to ruin their testimony, so they don’t influence anyone else. Satan has demons at his disposal, fallen angels that rebelled when he rebelled against God. Peter describes this enemy as a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. Paul speaks to the Christians at Thessalonica and calls Satan the Tempter. Paul knows the way Satan works and he is fearful he will gain an influence in the church.
I Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
I Thessalonians 3:5 “For this cause when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.”
In I Thessalonians 3, Paul is concerned about the church, and he sends Timothy to check on them. He knows they are babies in Christ and knows that the tempter will be after them. The phrase “that no man should be moved” is referring to being moved or agitated by fear to the point of forsaking their faith. He sends Timothy to encourage and challenge them to persevere.
I Thessalonians 3:3-4 “That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.”
Paul understood persecution. He had been beaten, threatened with death. and had left cities by night to escape the persecution. Satan always seeks to destroy what God has made good. He started in the garden and will not stop until he is thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity.
Revelation 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
We too need to be aware that he will seek every way possible to tempt us to sin. He will seek to convince us that sins are small and big, that we’re saved so it’s ok to slip up or have pet sins. He will remind us that no one is perfect to make us feel comfortable with our sins. He will take us one step at a time until he has us in the clutches of sin. At this point, many Christians give up and walk away from their faith feeling defeated. They enjoy their sin and when they are comfortable with it, deception takes over making them think they are ok. This process is a tactic of Satan, and he has refined it to an art.
Paul understood these tactics and had reason to be concerned with the new believers’ walk with the Lord. We can learn much from Paul’s concern. We too should be vigilant in helping, encouraging, and challenging new or immature believers. We are to pray for them, but we are also to seek to spend time with them, to get to know them, and help them to grow in their faith. It should burden us to see Christians not following Christ with their whole heart. We are to win others and at the same time help each other to walk closer every day to Jesus.
