Carelessness – 1 a: free from care: UNTROUBLED; b: INDIFFERENT, UNCONCERNED, 2: not taking care 3: not showing or receiving care; a: NEGLIGENT, SLOVENLY b: UNSTUDIED, SPONTANEOUS c: UNVALUED, DISREGARDED.
Today there is a saying that goes “It is what it is” and like most slang terms it’s very catchy. Basically it means whatever the situation or circumstance regardless of the outcome you’re accepting things as they are. It’s a place of no resistance. For example, you know that eating an entire bag of chocolate chip cookies will add to your waistline but instead of exercising some discipline in portion control you say, “It is what it is.” Or like people who smoke, they’ve read the warning by the surgeon general that says “cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health” but instead of quitting they say “It is what it is; you have to die from something.” No matter what the consequence win or lose “It is what it is.” It’s a catch all phrase for I don’t care. Now I realize there are many terms used to convey this “I don’t care” attitude but I use this one because it’s the one I found myself giving way too. But regardless of which term you use, it’s clear that any term or phrase that puts you in a place of no resistance is one that should be completely avoided.
A careless attitude is an open door to the enemy because it stops you from receiving what’s been given or lose what you have. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” If you’re not resisting the devil then you are allowing him to stay in your life. Living in a place of no resistance allows the devil to do what he does best, steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
Jesus came into this world to undo the works of the enemy. 1 John 4:8 says, “…For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Although Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil He didn’t restrict him from moving in the earth realm. The devil is still allowed to roam about the earth. 1Peter 5:8 says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” The devil can and is still wrecking havoc in our environment through the hearts and minds of men and women who don’t resist him. But Jesus said in John 13:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Even though the devil can manipulate things in our physical environment Jesus has overcome him. Therefore, when we don’t resist what is, we’re not receiving what’s been given. It’s up to us to resist the mess that the devil throws in our path by receiving what God has given us through Christ. And we resist the devil with the word of God. Revelations 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” This is how we resist the devil, by the blood of Jesus, by the word of our testimony and by not loving our lives. In other words we don’t use our ability we use Christ’s ability.
However, resistance requires suffering. We are partakers of His suffering and that suffering is to resist the devil. Paul said in Philippians 3:10-11 “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Careless people accept what is because they don’t want to suffer. They also don’t like confrontation. Resisting the devil requires us to confront the devil. When we resist the devil he flees from us. Change comes when we resist what is (this is of course if “what is” is contrary to what’s been given through Christ). And it’s not that we’re resisting too gain victory, we’re resisting because we’ve been given victory. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death-that is, the devil. And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.” You see there is nothing for us to fear. You don’t have to back down against the enemy because he has been rendered powerless to harm you. You can be and should be aggressively laying hold on all that God has given you through Christ.
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