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Are We Satan's Innocent Assistants?

Once when Jesus declared that he would have to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things of the chief priests and elders and then be crucified, Peter flatly contradicted him — “Not so, Lord.” To Peter’s rebuking, Jesus responded saying: “Get behind Me Satan” (Matthew 16:21-23). Jesus’ seemingly judgmental response would certainly be out of order in today’s culture. After all, Peter appeared to be concerned about Jesus’ well being, therefore, should not Jesus have been a little more considerate of Peter’s good intentions?

Earlier, Satan had vainly attempted to get Jesus to forsake his sacrificial death (Matthew 4:1-11). However, the truth of the matter was that Satan was behind the seemingly innocent rebuke of Peter. Jesus saw that it was Satan who was working through a beloved friend to tempt him. And even though Peter seemingly had the noblest of motives, he was really aiding Satan.

This is a lesson for us today as the Lord’s followers: Sometimes through our closest friends, Satan accomplishes what he could never accomplish through our worst enemies. We expect our known adversaries to attack us, but we may not be prepared for subtle temptations that come through our friends (cf. Matthew 26:50; Psalm 41:9; Psalm 55:12-14).

Negative words spoken from a seemingly genuine concern, can sometimes dampen a brother’s enthusiasm for doing the Lord’s work. Tongues that are vicious and gossiping can be disguised by claimed innocence of “just speaking the truth.”

Talking about things that are unbecoming to a Christian in the presence of worldly people might be justified as wanting to show the world that Christians are “just human too.” However, our words are to be spoken with grace and seasoned with salt — our speech indicative of the kind of wisdom that directs us (Colossians 4:6; James 3:13-17).

Truly, love covers a multitude of sins as it places the best construction on a brother’s behavior and overlooks human imperfections (James 5:20; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:5-7), however, love that does not hold a brother accountable for his sins may actually align us as Satan’s assistants. We might just cause a brother to be deceived by thinking that sinning is okay.

When a non-believing husband says to his wife, “If you will go to the lake with me just this once on Sunday, then I will go with you to services next Sunday,” and the wife succumbs to the offer, she does evil.

Going to the lake for recreation is not evil within itself, but complying with a spouse’s temptation to miss worship is (Hebrews 10:25-29). We may even justify telling a lie to keep from hurting someone’s feelings. But it is never right to do wrong — even if we lie with so-called “good intentions.” In essence, we become Satan’s assistants in promoting evil.

Let’s ask ourselves, “Are we ever Satan’s innocent assistants?” We might be innocent from the point of view that our intentions might be good, but we are never innocent when we promote evil. Satan’s deceptions are extremely subtle. John doesn’t call him the one who “deceives the whole world” by accident (Revelation 12:9).

The bottom line is, let’s be committed to doing right no matter what the consequences, and avoid helping Satan stand against God and God’s people. Let’s be able to see Satan in anyone who seeks to cause us to sin. Remember Jesus’ words to Peter — “Get Behind Me Satan.”