Who Do You Think You Are?

I know I can't take one more step towards you
Cause all that's waiting is regret...
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
(From Jar of Hearts Christina Perri)

Someone sent me a link to this song today. It is lamenting a misbegotten relationship with a guy so bad he must be like the "...dung icing on a dirt cake," if I may quote Robert Bianco. Nasty but graphic. Sometimes all too true.

The point of the song is resistance. No reverse gears. I don't know who the object of this song is but I know someone really awful and thoroughly committed to ruining the lives of people everywhere without exception. He offers love and experience but regret, shame, grief and estrangement are the oils on his canvas. The scripture has advice on how to deal with such a one. James 4 echoes the lyric and tells us to "resist" the Devil. The Message puts it this way:

"So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet."

RESIST from the Latin resistere, to take a stand. Defy, fight, oppose, repel, withstand.

Call me crazy but when the Devil brings me troubling thoughts, sinful ambitions, hurtful accusations, I tell him to, "SHUT UP!" I say it out loud. People think I am arguing with someone on a Bluetooth. Practical resistance and it works...fast!

Jesus is the Victor of My Soul. The only one with a legal right to walk the length and breath of my spiritual landscape and call it His. No matter what we have done, where we have been, if we have been forgiven through the finished work of Christ on the Cross, if His grace has beautified us, then it's "Don't come back for me, who do you think you are?" where Hell is concerned.

It is God who has made us and He is perfecting His work. The opening of the Gospel of John tells us:

"In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it."

Your very life is a light that can never be put out because its source is The Source of all goodness, greatness, love and worth. When Hell or anyone working for it tells you otherwise, know beyond a doubt, that the Great God of All the Universe will take a protective step in front of you, cover you with His Glory and make this single pronouncement, "MINE!"

Your God is present among you,
a strong Warrior there to save you.
Happy to have you back, he'll calm you with his love
and delight you with his songs.
Zephaniah 3:17

Jesus taught the Song of You to the stars!