Good Cop Bad Cop
And the enemy can play both
And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3, from the Gospel for the First Sunday in Lent)
The devil can play Good Cop Bad Cop with the best of them (and way better than Principal Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie in the video clip. Had to use them because there’s too much profanity in most of the cop shows/movies. You’re welcome.)
Anyway, the devil. I’ve found myself having to pray for God’s help as the devil has come at me both ways:
Satan, the Bad Cop. Satan is a title, meaning adversary or accuser. Satan will try to humiliate and discourage you by listing your sins (actual and made up).
Look at that big IF he throws at Jesus. “IF you are the Son of God” is a slick way of saying, “You’re no Son of God. You’re just a weak little man.”
Then there’s the tempter, the Good Cop. The devil presents us with some shortcut to happiness, or fun, or relief, or something else that might otherwise be a blessing from God. But the devil tempts with an oh-so-nice invitation to get the blessing in an ungodly way.
Jesus has been fasting and is famished, and the devil comes to tempt him to turn rocks into bread. He offers the relief of hunger if Jesus will just cheapen his divine power to break his fast.
We know that Jesus thwarts both the Bad Cop and the Good Cop by quoting Holy Scripture,
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3)
Jesus rebuts the “IF” by exhibiting the Son of God’s fidelity to the Father’s will, and rejects the temptation by refusing relief that is within his power to take.
But of course he’s Jesus. He IS the Son of God.
And we, unfortunately, are weak little people, intimidated by Bad Cop Satan and deceived by the Good Cop’s temptations.
Now, the Bible tells us that this shouldn’t be so, because God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet the Gospel tells us that Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).
God will allow the devil space to run Good Cop and Bad Cop on us. This is not pleasant news, but as with all unpleasantness God is working for our good, to help us
…rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)
I’m not going to slop TMI all over you, but I can share that I had a recent victory over the devil, requiring me to inwardly rebut the Bad Cop of accusation and the Good Cop of temptation, the one by not taking harsh words to heart and the other by not responding in kind to feel better.
I can tell you that I did NOT feel better — I felt beat up and weary. But I also savored a win in prayer, knowing that I’d resisted the devil and that I’d done God’s will by restraining my tongue.
I share this with you on the eve of Ash Wednesday and Lent. I want you to know that the evil one will seek to undermine your sincere efforts to be a man or woman of God by tearing you down on the one hand AND deceiving you sweetly on the other… as we see in the verse from Matthew, he can do both with just one sentence.
So my suggestions are
Be aware of both tactics.
Don’t expect to feel good when you score a win against the devil — you can win a fight and still be all kinds of banged up.
Turn quickly and constantly to God, because in that turning you find the real victory in The Father, Son and Holy Spirit who saves you from the world, the flesh and the devil:
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1John 4:4)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20)