If you met Satan on the sidewalk, would he cringe? Would he see how you dressed and be ashamed? Would he hear you talk and be disappointed? Would he see who you were with and question your relationships?
If you met Satan on the sidewalk would he be drawn to you or would he want to get far away? Would there be any common qualities that attracted him to you or would he despise everything you seem to be?
You see, based on nothing more than first impression we draw conclusions about people we pass by. We can tell quickly whether a person looks like, sounds like, or acts like someone we would have anything in common with. Would we befriend them or avoid them? Would we want them in our inner circle of influence or would we have trouble trusting them?
Proverbs 18:24 says that “a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly…” If you met Satan on the sidewalk would he have found a friend or a foe. A friend is supportive of your ways. They accept you. They appreciate you. A friend encourages you to be you. In fact, a friend encourages you to be an even better you.
But if the better me is nothing more than an escalation of an ungodly me then what difference does it make? That is the underlying question pertaining to the direction of our lives. We know what the answers to all of the above questions are supposed to be but we have to personally respond. If I were to meet Satan on the sidewalk I hope he would despise me. I hope he would be so sickened by my attempt to live a godly life that he could not stomach being in my presence for any measurable time. That would be my intention. But I just wonder, how would he react if I met Satan on the sidewalk?
-Andy Brewer