Who Does the Devil Seek After?
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” I Peter 5:8
Does Satan seek after those who are not believers in Christ? No. He already has them in his grip. As the old saying goes, “let sleeping dogs lie”. Why would he hassle those who are on his side whether they realize it or not? How about those who are committed, mature believers in Christ? Yes and no. Satan’s attempt to diminish the true believer’s influence is more difficult, but if he is successful on rare occasions, he considers it a feather in his cap. I wish that it was impossible for him to hassle those who have a strong faith in the Lord, but since we live in a sin cursed world, he is going to pop up now and then in an attempt to get believers off track. He knows he can’t capture their soul, but his goal is to get them to compromise and give Christianity a bad name.
How about new believers? Yes, definitely. They are just getting a feel for this new life in Christ and are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. They may have had many years living in sin and are finding it difficult to rid themselves of that old garment of pride. Satan cannot claim their soul, either, but he can make them miserable and cause them to doubt. There is another category of folks whom Satan loves to tempt. These are the ones who are weak in faith regardless of how long they have been saved. Like the mature and new believers, he can’t claim their soul, but he can cause them to hurt the cause of Christ because they have, like the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-4, lost their first love. They repented and placed their faith in Christ perhaps a long time ago but failed to honor that commitment in striving for excellency as brothers and sisters of Christ. They have neglected Bible study, prayer time, church attendance, and witnessing for Christ. Their lifestyles cause unbelieving observers to say, “I’m just as good as they are”. The believers who walk at a guilty distance give Satan the opportunity to invade their space and cause disruption in their families, work, and particularly in their service and worship of the Lord. If they have truly been saved, God will make Himself known to them. As one of my former pastors used to say, “God knows your house number, and He will be around to see you one of these days.” A truly saved person will go to heaven when he or she dies, but one who has not honored his or her commitment to Christ will travel a difficult road to eternity.
On the other hand, one who claims to be born again, but has little to no desire to grow in Christ and represent Him well should probably rethink his or her claim to salvation. The writer of Hebrews (12:8) wrote that those who truly belong to Christ will receive chastisement to root out whatever is not in alignment with living a Christ like life, but if one receives no chastisement when he or she is living carelessly and distantly from God, then it’s a pretty good indication that he or she has not truly been born again. Scripture puts it very bluntly–“bastards and not sons” nor daughters of God. When a person repents of sin and places his or her faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells the believer to guide, warn, and comfort him or her. Another thing my former pastor used to say was that “if someone is living in the house with you, then you know it”.
One other thing to consider is Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:21-23, probably one of the most terrifying things Jesus said in His time on earth. He said that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father in heaven. He went on to describe some of the works that these folks will use as a reason why they should be allowed into God’s kingdom, all good and needful works no doubt, but none that would “earn” them a place in the kingdom of heaven because one cannot “earn” eternal life. Jesus will then say for them to depart from Him for He never knew them. He even referred to their works as “iniquity”. The only ones He will accept are those who have done the will of His Father with the main will being that of repentance of sin and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. It doesn’t get any plainer or clearer than that.