OBT

“For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality.”

                                            I Corinthians 15:53

I remember the peculiar term in a meeting of educators a few years back. I laughed when I first heard it. Then, I pondered what it meant. Finally, I realized that the joke was on me when I found out I had one.

OBT. On Board Terrorist. This is the person who is the doom and gloom in the group. They are literally shooting down (or car bombing) every idea that has some sound wisdom to it.  They are the ones that argue for the sake of arguing. They live for the fight and the conflict.

This OBT is a friend one minute then Benedict Arnold the next. When you are hiding from a bad situation they rat you out when they gain some sort of upper hand or sweet indulgence. Yes, it’s a firm right hand and an over the top, cheesy smile while the left hand slides up with the knife for your back.

That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? However, if you are a believer you have one in your life. I bet you were thinking I was going to say the Devil, right? No, it’s someone who knows us better and more intimately.

It is our fallen nature that still tries to trip us up. While we are in the flesh we will have a struggle. Yes, our spirit is becoming a new person in Jesus day by day but the flesh is at war with it. Its time is short and it knows it. It is jealous to please itself more than the Lord. It will try all it can to have the upper hand. Sin has a life span but the eternal spirit does not.

I guess the question is, Do you have a plan to counter your OBT?

If you don’t I will give you what works for me. His name is Jesus Christ the victor of sin. He knows how to live and defeat the trouble that enters our lives. It is a matter of daily surrendering our stubborn and selfish counterpart to Him. I like to tell the OBT to wait at the door. “I am going to have you talk to the Master of this home”. I ask to the Lord to sick the troublemaker and take him down. I can do this because I hate salesmen who can’t take a hint that they are not wanted.