Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday? For the third year in a row, my husband and I opted not to watch. However, we did tune in after the game for the premier of a new show, 24: Legacy. Okay, it isn’t a new show, but a spinoff of my favorite show of all times 24. As we were watching, I couldn’t help but think that Hollywood has no new ideas.
Let’s play a little game. It might seem strange for a blog post, but I’m hoping you will still have fun. Imagine me singing/speaking in front of my computer as you read the lines from a theme song or a notable quote from a movie below. My hope is that you to name the source (out loud in front of your computer). Ready?! Okay…
- Whatever happened to predictability, the milk man, the paper boy, evening TV.
- When there’s something strange, in your neighborhood. Who you gonna call?
- Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…
- Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme…
- Heroes in a half shell, turtle power!
- Luke, I am Your Father.
Almost everything coming out of Hollywood these days seems to be a remake. Full House and Fuller House, are you finding Nemo or Dori? The animated Beauty at the Beast or the new one about to hit theaters? And as if three Jurassic Parks and Ghostbusters aren’t enough, now we have Jurassic World and a remake of the first Ghostbusters. Exactly how many times can one get saved by the bell? And let’s not overlook the one million Star Wars that exists. The only new titles are remakes of real life events that we first watched on the news.
Hollywood has no new ideas.
And Neither Does Satan.
He has tricks, story lines, and lies he likes to tell, and while the characters or the setting might be a bit different, really they are just a remake of something else he has previously done. His goal is to make us think that our issues are one-of-a-kind to keep us in isolation from God and each other. Because he knows if we begin to talk, we will realize the lies he tells us are the same lies he is whispering to others, and the shame we feel confined by is the same shame others experience.
You can apply this in every area of our Christian walk. The faith questions we wrestle with or the temptations to which we continually fall prey. Our pride prevents us from sharing them, but it is when we are honest with ourselves and each other that we realize Satan has no new ideas. Our struggles are not original, but inflicted upon us by a masterful deceiver who has been at work for thousands of years.
He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ~ John 8:44
When Satan muddles in our marriages, he has no new ideas.
I often feel like I am the only wife who struggles with comparisons and insecurities. I feel like I’m a failure of a Christian to still struggle so much with selfishness and impure motives. Satan often lies to me that my husband is only with me because it didn’t work out his ex-girlfriend. Sometimes I feel confused by this inner turmoil, and falsely conclude something is wrong with me. I must be broken. When in actuality, many wives probably experience similar emotions. Not because we something is wrong with us, but because Satan is spinning a web of fear, doubt, and insecurity in our lives.
We need to get better about outing Satan’s lack of creativity so that we can link arm-in-arm and fight for our faith and our marriages together. That is why my desire is to offer wives authenticity rather than advice. The world doesn’t need another blogger declaring how marriage should be, but it does need more women sharing where they messed up, and pointing to the One who can heal and restore. My goal is not that we will bond over our brokenness, but bond over what Jesus can do for our brokenness. Look, and be encouraged, what Our Savior will do to Mr. No-New-Ideas-Devil,
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ~ Revelation 12:9
…and he [Jesus] threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he [Satan] would not deceive the nations any longer… ~ Revelation 20:3
If you feel downcast, alone, or under attack as a wife or a woman of God, please speak up! Chances are there is someone around you who understands because they have experienced something similar. Satan has no new idea. Let’s not let him get away with convincing us that we are special cases. Let’s call him the liar that he is, reminding him of his fate, and then dive into God’s Word to see what our Lord says about our situation.
How are you fighting Satan in this are of your life?
darby dugger
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