A Real Rivalry

We moved to Alabama over nineteen years ago from Georgia. As a life-long football fan I thought I knew something about rivalries. The Georgia and Georgia Tech game was a pretty big deal. The Redskins and Cowboys had an intense relationship, but that game has faded substantially as those teams struggle for some kind of focus (7 to 6, really?). But then, as I said, we moved to Alabama and were introduced to the rivalry.
Of course, I had watched the Alabama-Auburn game before we came over here. But once here, it became different. One of the first and most frequent questions I was asked here was this: “Are you Auburn or Alabama?” My response has been that I have friends on both sides of this issue and I stand with my friends. I enjoy all of the college game but I do have sort of a favorite team (Hint: Woof!).
The rivalry between these two state teams is fervent and for the most part good natured fun. Like any diversion it can get out of hand if taken too seriously. But there is a rivalry that can never be taken too seriously, the one between good and evil.

This rivalry goes back sometime before human history, to the days of God and His angels. Some of God’s angels, led by Satan, rebelled against the Creator. I don’t know all I’d like to know about those events, but I do know that the Devil hates God. Peter warned us: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NKJV). Since the devil hates God and he hates and wishes to harm whatever God loves. This hatred is at the heart of the great rivalry.
This rivalry manifests itself as a battle between good and evil. We are the subjects of that battle. We are in a way, the playing field on which this rivalry takes place. Our souls are the prize. Great forces are arrayed against us. But thanks be to God that He is for us: “…He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Because God is for us victory is assured for the faithful.
The assurance of faith’s victory (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-58) does not diminish the intensity of the rivalry between good and evil. This is so because evil does not see itself as evil. It sees itself as better, even if life’s experiences and God’s Word indicate that it is not.
This is obviously the state of affairs in our culture. Traditional moral values are disdained as just “old-fashioned.” The methodology is clever: Sin is simply redefined out of existence. By this line of thought, since there is no absolute right or wrong, we cannot say anything is wrong.
To make the matter as clear as possible, consider the evil of abortion. There is no issue today that ignites as much intensity of discussion as abortion. It has gotten to the point that the mainstream media will not allow an open and frank discussion of it for fear of stirring folks up against their, the media’s, liberal agenda. So, rather than discuss the morality of abortion, they attempt to destroy the category of morals. The argument goes like this: If nothing is really wrong, abortion cannot be wrong. But we are not ignorant of such tricks (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Christians are locked in a struggle, a rivalry that makes all the rest insignificant. In the battle of good versus evil, good will win. But we must fight and fight on the side of right and good if we are to avoid being a casualty. We cannot be on the sidelines, a spectator in the stands or remain at home in the recliner. “Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

-Bill Irby

Hobbs Street Herald