I must discard the idea once and for all that Satan wants me in the junk heap. Quite the contrary! He wants me the best possible specimen of uprightness and morality, with one exception, that I do it without the life of God inside me. Satan does not care a fig about my outside appearance, but he will not tolerate my vital link with God inside.
When he tempted Jesus, Satan did not try to change His outside. He still wanted Him popular, esteemed, even a miracle worker. What he really wanted was to crack His interior, like ultrasonic waves, until the inside of Him crumbled. I make a mistake if I think Satan wants me an alcoholic, a dealer in white slavery, or a con man in a carnival. He wants me outwardly acceptable, a pillar of the community, a respected citizen. But most of all, he wants me dead to God, cut off from the lifeline to the Almighty.
Satan jumps for joy when my lifeline to God shrivels from lack of use. He becomes positively ecstatic when he sees me go through the form of godliness but without its power. Is he not doing the same himself? Is he not an “angel of light”? Is he not the master hypocrite who masquerades as one of God’s choicest messengers, and yet possesses nothing of the life of God?
What does that say to me right now? I believe that no matter how plaster perfect my outside may be, I may be seriously hurting my heavenly Father on the inside. After all, the refined sins (such as pride, indifference, and lovelessness) are inside sins, and they are the deadliest of all. I must not give Satan comfort regarding me; I must keep my interior strong. I praise Him who teaches me “to know wisdom in my inmost heart” because He desires “truth in [my] inward being” (Psalm 51:6, Amp.). Such a God will help me keep the inside of the cup as sparkling clear as the outside!
“And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7).
Daily with the King 