Muhammad Ali made the term rope-a-dope famous in his 1974 bout with George Foreman. Ali leaned against the ropes to absorb Foreman's punches to wear him out. The fight was a draw, but Ali was ahead when it was stopped.
I am not a boxing fan, and I believe a lot of it is theater, but I think there is a lesson here. God tests us by allowing the Darkness to lure us into traps, and I think this is one of them.
Many Christians expend their efforts, resources and lives pursuing a relationship with God. They develop ministries, start churches, go on missions, and some even follow Luke 10 and heal the sick, cast out demons and preach the good news, as Yeshua taught. I am not criticizing any of that; I am not the judge of someone else's servants. But those things all take energy, and like Foreman's many punches, they may not be as effective as we might think.
The Darkness will let us be effective at things that really don't matter. It will allow us to have successes so we might become proud and eventually fall. If we fall, the world will blaspheme the One whom we claim to represent, and we may become discouraged enough that we lose faith, which is the Enemy's ultimate goal.
Jesus said...
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23 NIV)
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12 NIV)
Truly I tell you, ... no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Mark 10:29-31 NIV)
I am content to be "last." I am content to hopefully be allowed to clean toilets in the Kingdom of Heaven. I just want to get there, and I am terrified of being left out. I am also terrified for most people around me, who don't seem to understand me, and who do not seem to hear what I am saying. I don't want to see anyone perish, nor does God (2 Peter 3:9).
The writer of Hebrews summarized his list of faithful people in these ways...
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them...
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:13-16,39-40 NIV)
I believe one of the reasons God had me live part of my life in Britain was so I would learn what it is like to live as a foreigner. I feel like a foreigner where I live now, in my own hometown. I hope that means I fall into the category, above.
I have been shunned and persecuted from the time I learned the importance of identifying as an Israelite. I have shouted that from the rooftops ever since it was whispered into my ear, and nobody seems to hear me. I intend to continue to do so, as long as God gives me strength. That's because I believe that message gives us the authority we need to deliver the knockout punch.
All glory to God.
UPDATE, December 27, 2022...
... I have often since observed how incongruous and irrational the common response of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, namely, that they are not ashamed to sin and yet are ashamed1 to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning that only can make them be esteemed as wise men.
(Daniel Defoe, ROBINSON CRUSOE, copyright © 1997 by Joseph L. Wheeler and Focus on the Family, page13)
Why do we do these things?
I think the answer is pride.
I think this is why we are exhorted to humble ourselves, critically examine ourselves, and submit ourselves to God that he might show us our faults...
... so that we might repent.
UPDATE, May 27, 2023...
1 See my discussion about shame at the beginning of my Shulamite post.