There’s this great scene in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second installment in The Hunger Games film series, in which Haymitch Abernathy, the experienced, older advisor to protagonist Katniss Everdeen, is coaching his protégé in how to survive the harrowing battle royale death match. Twenty-four “tributes” have been unwantingly chosen by the oppressive Capitol to see who can kill whom first. It’s an awful, awful game.
Just before Katniss is set to enter the deadly arena for the second time, the two dramatically hug, soberly say goodbye, and Haymitch offers one final directive: “Katniss, when you’re in the arena, remember who the real enemy is.”
Remember who the real enemy is.
Let me be transparently raw. This past week has been awful.
Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old, husband, and father of two young children was murdered because of the opinions he held, the effectiveness of his voice, and his influence over the younger generations.
Our reactions have been all over the place… pleas, prayers, hate, heartache… grief, criticism, adoration, and all sorts of assumptions… so many assumptions by ones who never knew him nor knew of him well before…
Let me be blunt. Much of this has taken place in social media, and what an unhealthy arena it has been in wake of the watershed moment now before us.
I’m disappointed. Embarrassed, too, if I’m honest.
Friends, we have forgotten who the real enemy is.
In our most recent, radically candid post, we acknowledged how evil is active on planet Earth. Satan is flourishing in our country. He’s been masterfully creative at getting us to think someone is evil other than him.
The names I’ve seen Charlie called…
The names I’ve seen his wife called…
The insults, too, we’ve seen thrown at those who didn’t respond the way we’d like…
Friends, stop.
We have been blinded in the arena. We can’t see straight.
When Haymitch spoke to Katniss, his goal was to ensure she doesn’t fall into the trap of fighting her fellow tributes. The real enemy is the Capitol, the entity responsible for the atrocities of the Hunger Games. By understanding her true enemy, Katniss can think straight, act strategically, and quit demonizing all the wrong people. The demonization gets in the way of accurately assessing both circumstances and people.
Friends, we are confused.
Make no mistake about it; we don’t get it. We don’t get who the enemy really is. Our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He is present, active, a liar and the father of lies. His scheme is to capitalize on our anger — whatever side we fall on — and sew discord. Indeed, this is happening now, and sadly, not in fiction.
If there’s one strategy the devil comes back to again and again, it’s division. Satan is the divisive spirit. That means that it isn’t the Republicans, the Democrats, the independents nor the lovers or loathers of Charlie Kirk. It is the personification of evil. And it’s working. The more we focus on the perceived wrong within each of those people groups, the more we’re distracted. What does Satan want to distract us from?
He wants us unable to see who God is and all that is good and right and true. We can’t see that when we’re too busy focusing on the iniquity we deem most in other people. We are looking in the wrong direction.
Who are you most focused on? Do you remember who the real enemy is?
God be with us. We need you most now.
Honestly…
AR