James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Children are often surprised to discover that darkness is not a kind of light (like red, blue or green light) but the absence of light. There is something in us that makes us think that two opposed things must always somehow be equal, like wrestlers. But the reality is that some things can be the opposite of others, not by being equal, but by being radically unequal. Thus blindness is the opposite of sight and a valley is the opposite of a mountain, not by being the same thing but by being something radically less. In just this way, the devil is opposed to God not by being equal to God but by being nearly nothing. He is, so to speak, a Will to Nothingness. This does not mean the devil does not exist, but rather that he is an angel who has exerted all his superhuman power in the evil and blasphemous attempt to reject God. And in so doing, he can only choose Nothingness for God is the Creator of Everything. When we submit ourselves to God therefore, we submit ourselves to the Lord’s joy, life, love and power in a way the devil both hates and is powerless to resist. He can, of course, tempt us to reject God and take his way of Nothingness, but he cannot, without our giving in to temptation, offer any actual power to oppose God. In fact, as James says today, the devil will flee when faced with the overwhelming power of a soul truly submitted to Christ for the same reason that darkness cannot co-exist with light. Today, actively resist the temptations he puts before you and most of all, submit to God.
