TIME'S A-WASTIN' -- Devotional for November 18, from "Good Seeds"

And so the great dragon, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, was thrown down, and his angels with him, for there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. Woe to the earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time. (Revelation 12:9,12)

The God of the Universe has all the time in the world to accomplish His plan. He is the ultimate time-manager: never late, but never in a hurry. The god of this world, on the other hand, seems to have gotten behind his time, and now he is rushing to get done what he has planned for man. The devil is like us, always in a hurry to perform his work (or rather, we are like him). And what is Satan’s plan, his work? Destruction and death, that is all. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10a). He formerly was a prince in heaven. If Christ is the King of kings,” Lucifer was the “Prince of princes.” But when evil was found in him, he was cast out, and he made his new home on earth. Have you ever had someone move in next door who proved to be a blight upon the neighborhood? That is only a hint of what it was like the day the devil and his millions of minions moved in next door to mankind! There was no room for them in the inn of heaven, but it seems they found plenty of living space in the stable of earth. So now, why is our planet so troubled? Why so much misery in the family of man? Why have we never achieved the utopia we have long dreamed of? Isn’t it obvious? It is due to our bent toward evil coupled with the enticement of the evil one (see Proverbs 1:10). But people miss this altogether, looking rather for another culprit. If it were not so pathetic, it would be funny, the villains we have identified: greenhouse gases, poverty, destruction of the rain forest, the Democrats, money, the spotted owl, ignorance, the Republicans, the internal combustion engine and the petroleum mined and refined to feed it…the list goes on and on! And when we Christians jump on our favorite bandwagon or political railroad, we become totally sidetracked from the work God has ordained for us to do in the short time we have left. In this one way, we would do well to emulate the devil: get busy, knowing your time is short -- “Work, for the night is coming.” The devil’s engine is fueled by hate, the Christian’s by love. He’s working against God, and will ultimately fail; we're working with God and will ultimately succeed. And yet Jesus speaks of saints who will be like branches of the Living Vine, who although they are busy, are not busy for Him – and the ultimate result will be a great sadness for us and for our Lord, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, “when instead of the fruit He is seeking, we offer Him nothing but leaves!”