The Kingdom has Suffered Violence
One
The Violent Bear It Away
War is violent. War is aggressive. If you’re in a war and we are in a war, a spiritual war, then you win because you’re tougher, stronger, and more ruthless than the enemy.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:12, that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and that the violent take it by force.
If you want to get into Heaven, if you want to win the battle and get into the Kingdom, it’s going to be by violence, by force. So here’s the question: what kind of violence do we need to be practicing?
Two
Not Violence Against Others
Christ says the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence and by force. But this is, of course, the same Jesus who tells us to turn the other cheek, and who tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute you.
So obviously, the violence we need to inflict in this war is not against our brothers and sisters. Okay, so is the violence against Satan? Yes, in one sense, the warfare we have to practice is violence against Satan. But violence against Satan just means liberating something human from Satan’s influence.
When Jesus liberated people from demonic possession, He was inflicting violence against Satan. The early monks would go out into the desert, and out to pagan buildings, and they would pray there and set up faith-communities there. They would set those places free from demonic influence and so they would inflict violence on the demons. So too, we inflict violence on Satan by removing some aspect of our life from his influence.
So what attack do we need to make on Satan? What part of our life do we have to liberate from the influence of sin?
Three
Violent Against Yourself – Removing Near Occasion of Sin
Jesus says it’s the violent who seize the Kingdom of God. And Jesus gives us violent imagery in the Gospel during the Sermon on the Mount. He says that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off.
That’s some violent imagery right there. The violent bear away the kingdom. Those who are violent against Satan by being violent against the sources of their own temptations.
What might that look like?
Four
Violence to Yourself
What situations are causing you to fall into sin, into overindulgence or cowardice or complacency or lust? What can you do to cut them out? This is a spiritual war, wars are won by a combination of strategy and a ruthless willingness to carry those strategies out.
So, for instance, are you too physically vain? Then do some violence to the situations that make you care too much about your appearance. Get rid of a shirt or a jacket or a pair of shoes. Do you just talk too much? Do you indulge in the careless words that Jesus says you’ll have to account for one day? Then get rid of those excess words. Try to be the person who gets others to talk more than you do.
Do you let yourself get anxious? Do you fantasize about the things that can go wrong at work, or in your marriage, or in your kids’ lives, or in the economy, or in the Church? Then refuse to think and definitely refuse to listen and read and talk about what’s not in front of you. Look at the faces in front of you, look at the environment around you, make an act of trust in the God above you who governs all things, and who is totally capable of handling the future.
Do you indulge in business, in a way that prevents you from spending time with your family, or spending time in prayer? Then set a strict limit, no work after three, or at least after five. And even if it means you feel like you’re falling behind on your projects, don’t give in and return to your work.
It’s true of lust, laziness, and gluttony – strategize what kind of violence you can do on your surroundings, on your environment. Make a structural change. It may feel like an amputation, like you’re plucking out your eye or cutting off your right hand. But that’s the kind of violence that wins battles. That wins wars. That will win you the Kingdom of God.
Five
Nothing Stops You from Winning this Battle
The best way to lose this battle against Satan is to act as though your success depends on other factors besides your own willingness to fight and to fight violently. You might say, “I can’t win, because society is so screwed up or my work is so screwed up or my marriage is so screwed up or because the Church is so screwed up.” That’s all fundamentally a distraction. And it’s a very convenient distraction because, of course, it’s really hard to be violent with your vices.
But we win by being violent with what we are in control of, not with what we’re not in control of. If you fight those aspects of your life and constantly ask Christ for His aid, then you will seize the Kingdom of God.
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Be violent towards the things that hold you back. Set hard restrictions on your work this week, leave your work in the office so that you can spend real time with your friends and family and real time in prayer without distractions.
Don’t blame external factors for your own failures, be violent with the things you have control of and avoid excuses.