Life Is Warfare

The Roman Philosopher Seneca once remarked "life is warfare," and I guess in many ways he was right. We might ease the pronouncement a bit and say life is a struggle but the ideas are similar. As I arose this Easter morning my thoughts turned to Jesus and the cross and the warfare / struggle that surrounded what was the greatest event in human history.

We know that Jesus prayed that this cup (the pain, the warfare, the struggle) might be taken from Him but in the end it would not be and God's will would be completed. I always ask myself the same question; could God's triumph come in another way? But the answer is always no. In order to save us from our sin Jesus had to taste the fullness of sin. Misunderstanding, betrayal, desertion of friends, weakness, callousness, deliberate cruelty, excruciating pain, and death itself in order to finally prove that evil is no match for the Father.

When Jesus was seized in the garden, two of life's conflicting philosophical methods surfaced in the  warfare / struggle of the moment. Peter's method was the sword; Jesus's method was a cross. Peter sought revenge; Jesus sought reconciliation. These methods remind us of the continuing conflict, the warfare / struggle, that Christians face daily. However, as believers we are called to reject the reactive, short-term response of Peter and daily revive the reconciliation of Jesus.

Yes, Seneca might have been right "life is warfare," but he did not have all the facts. The warfare we face is not of flesh and blood and not of this world. It is the struggle that rages within us, where sin continues to battle for control. Yet, because of Christ and the cross, sin's warfare and our struggle already have a decided end and can be summed up in three words:

"He is risen!"