These words of the apostle Peter, together with the words of his friend Paul found in Ephesians 6:12, remind us of the all-important truth that our only adversary as disciples of Jesus is the devil and his minions. This is not to say that people don’t do wicked things; of course they do. But they are not the enemy. They are just rebels to be won to the true King, Jesus, who died for the ungodly – that is to say, all of us.

Peter is also reminding us of how we are to live in this life until the King returns and makes all things new. We are to resist the devil. This word has two meanings. On one hand, Peter is exhorting us to stand firm in the midst of temptations to be disloyal to Jesus in whatever way they come. He is also, however, encouraging us to take action against and oppose him.

The disciple, then, has both an inward focused and an outward focused mission. The inward focused mission has to do with holiness. We do this by cooperating with the Holy Spirit in surrendering every area of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. The outward focused mission includes both evangelization and the recreation of this world which God loves and which began on Easter Sunday and will be consummated when Jesus returns in glory and makes all things new. This recreation happens by our engaging in the various spheres of human life in such a way that we do everything we can to bring them into conformity with how our good Father intended them to be. This means more than doing our work virtuously, although that is important. It means recognizing that since the enemy cannot create but only distort, twist and misshape what God creates, that we are placed by God in various parts of the world to bend them back into the shape that God intended them to be in so that the human person can truly flourish. We do this by our engagement in medicine and healthcare, athletics, marriage and family life, entertainment, education, the arts, politics – everything!

As a way to remind ourselves of this mission, we created Lorraine Cross Media. The Lorraine Cross has a rich history that goes back many centuries. It is especially meaningful to us in ACTS XXIX because Lorraine is the area from which one of our primary patron saints came: St. Joan of Arc. 

During the Second World War, when Hitler took control of the region, General Charles de Gaulle chose the Lorraine cross, especially because of its connection with St. Joan, as a symbol of French resistance against Germany. It was, and is, a symbol of hope and faith in victory.

The victory, however, is not against earthly rulers but against the powers of Sin, Death and Satan that have enslaved the human race since the fall and who were all defeated by the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection. And one real day, these powers will be destroyed.

We created this arm of ACTS XXIX – Mobilizing for Mission to serve as a reminder of the mission that has been entrusted to us. We invite you to surrender to the rightful King who has laid down His life out of love for us and to join “the resistance” to go and rescue others who are living the nightmare that is life apart from God.