Satan Runs a Numbers Game but We Don’t Have to Play

Satan doesn’t wear red silk pajamas and horns, nor does he carry a pitchfork. No, Satan wears a suit from Brooks Brothers, horn-rimmed glasses, a visor, and he comes at you armed with an adding machine.

See, Satan runs a backroom numbers game and he’s always showing up to check your tally. How much do you weigh? How much do you make? What’s your credit score? What are your grades? How many drinks was that? How many times are you going to screw up that way? You’re how old now? You’ve missed church how many times?

Failed once more? Gave in twice yesterday? Lost how much? How few days do you have left? Is there no one who cares about you? Is there no one you’ve helped? It’s not adding up, friend. You’re short. You see it, don’t you? You’re in deficit.

Let’s count your friends. Your achievements. Your sales. Your conquests. Your curtain calls. Your sins. What’s the score, high roller? How much can I put you down for before I spin the wheel?

And we slip into thinking God works this way, too, because He invented numbers and math but, you know what? He’s into higher math, baby, and He’s obsessed with Word problems.

Like this on, for instance: “Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:3-7

Like that math? That’s God’s way of working tough equations. Here’s another: “Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.” Romans 5:14-16

Yes, Satan runs a numbers game. He’s slick, he’s heartless and he’s got access to all your data. But God keeps the tab, He holds your tally sheet and He settles the final score. He can add your sins but then He subtracts the work of Christ on the cross from the total score and you definitely come out ahead.

He multiplies your blessings and divides your sorrows so they are only a fraction of what you deserve. When you are filled with His Holy Spirit you are empowered to an exponential that cannot be calculated by any device known to humans. And if you give Him your life, He will reduce you to your root and you will find that radical living is all you ever wanted in the first place.

Satan has a number, loved ones, and it’s almost up. Try on this ultimate Word problem that is Satan’s problem, not ours: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.” Revelation 19:11-13

Are you wagering your life in a backroom numbers game that’s been rigged from the start? There’s a better way.

Read the Word problems again – then you do the math.

Satan Runs a Numbers Game https://t.co/0PtDzX046Z but we don’t have to play – Do you know God’s higher math? #evil #redemption #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) October 25, 2016