Civil War

Being a mother of boys, superhero movies have always been a favorite in our family.  Two of the newest movies released this past summer have a similar theme: Civil War.  Our heroes are now fighting each other, losing sight of the true enemy.  As I was watching Captain America: Civil War last night, I was struck by what the villain said...something along the lines of "I knew I couldn't kill them.  But if I could get them to kill each other..."  From the outside looking in, it's easy for us to see that heroes fighting each other is a waste.  (Except for entertaining the males in my family!)  Not only are they causing each other harm, but it is distracting them from the real danger!  Heroes should be united!

Then I got to thinking...is our enemy's strategy really all that different?  Doesn't he seek to isolate and divide us, letting us damage each other in ways that he never could?  He subtly plants distrust, secrecy, taking easy offense, holding grudges, unforgiveness, and pride.  Countries are at war.  Spouses and families are divided.  Churches are divided.  Friendships are thwarted.  And we do it to ourselves!  Families are meant to be united, weathering storms together.  Churches are meant to stand united against the devil's schemes.  We can easily see while watching a movie how sad it is to let misunderstandings and false assumptions destroy relationships, but it's so much harder to detect in our own lives.

Let's take a lesson from these movies: learn to recognize the real enemy.
United We Stand.  Divided We Fall.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
-Ephesians 6:12