Have you ever watched a football game where one team is way ahead of the other as the final seconds tick down on the clock? With no hope of victory, the squad being trounced on the scoreboard results to cheap shots, baiting the winning players into a brawl in an attempt to somehow take them down. These are the characteristics of a losing team.

The Bible makes it clear that Satan’s bait, hook, line, and sinker are all the work of a defeated being, one who has already lost and desires to take down anyone he can. Jesus was not only victorious over the temptation of Satan, He also defeated him through His life, death, and resurrection: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

When tempted, we have a choice to either succumb to the bait and experience destruction or to turn to the One who conquered sin and death: “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).

The next time you are tempted, don’t take the bait of a defeated being. Instead, surrender the temptation to Christ who will deliver you from the deception of sin and destruction. You will be victorious in the arena where it counts for eternity.

Episode 68: Guard Your Heart Against Satan's Schemes from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.