Chancellor's Challenges: When the Accuser Comes

Whether it is due to being old and realizing there is a lot of life gone by, or whether it is due to the isolation of being cooped up with my own head, the other day I got myself into a grand funk.

Being increasingly aware of my own self-centeredness, questions like these bombarded my brain: Has my life really been a sham that reflects me really only living for me?... Do I love others because of what it does for me, or is it because I genuinely love God?... Have the sins of my heart – past and present – really indicated that I am in this world only on my agenda?

Then it happened. A bit of a song that we have sung together as a family and as a congregation of people reminded me of something. There is a slant-eyed creature in the universe who slinks around pointing his finger and accusing the people of God to doubt God and His goodness. “When Satan tempts us to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free; For God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me...” ("Before the Throne of God Above")

And while there is nothing wrong with self-reflection and honestly assessing the direction of one’s life, it must be done with the clear-eyed understanding of a Greater Reality. In the throne room of heaven, Satan, the accuser, will point and say, “You call yourself a Christian! Look at your sin! Remember, all sinners are mine!” I will have no other answer than to look to the clear-eyed One who stares back at my accuser and says with firm voice, “I died for him. He is mine!” That is the story of Easter. Do you know personally the resurrected Savior that has purchased men from every tribe and nation a people by His blood? Is your sin covered by His blood? May you celebrate fully this Sunday in knowing the powerful resurrection of Christ in overcoming the power of Satan’s accusations and death.