One Way We're Like Satan

(This post was originally published at the blog Grass People. Read it at https://aworldofgrasspeople.blogspot.com/2017/06/one-way-were-like-satan.html.)

I graduated last month. Normally, commencement speakers say some classically inspirational things about how powerful and influential you are as a fresh graduate. They tell you of the potential you have to be someone great and to change the world. But that's just "normally," as I said. Sometimes, there are "abnormal" commencement speeches, like the one at my graduation. At that ceremony, the speaker compared me and my fellow graduates to Satan. And I couldn't have asked for a more inspiring speech. As a English professor at Providence College, Dr. Anthony Esolen naturally turned to the classics of western literature in his commencement speech that day. The context of his discussion of Satan was in a reference to John Milton's depiction of the devil in Paradise Lost. This Satan is the infamous non-hero of the poem, a character who journeys to earth, seeking to bring about the destruction of the human race as retribution toward God for his own fall from heaven. Dr. Esolen continued on to warn us of the dangers of determining to "change the world," as many other commencement speakers would urge other graduates to do. In the words of Dr. Esolen, Satan himself was the first being to take into his own hands the task of changing himself and the world--in essence, the first political activist. Even adopting the apparently more conservative resolution to "change ourselves," as Dr. Esolen said, is an idea that also resembles Satan's own thoughts. Dr. Esolen went on to explain himself using the following powerful language:

If you mean by changing yourself you mean that you can save yourself, than you're more than a damn fool. You're taking your direction from Satan, the first being who changed himself by falling from himself, believing that in himself lay the capacity to be more than he was created to be--that in himself lay the capacity to be God.

One thing became certain to me after I heard this: no more trying to change the world from me. No more trying to fix myself either. But, if I am unable to change the world or myself despite all those years of college and high school and before, why did I even pursue an education? And yes, I certainly see man's own tendency to bring chaos out of attempts to fix the world, and I sense the utter hopelessness within when I try to transform myself for the better. Just as Satan's attempts at creation outside of God led to no good, all of mankind's attempts to play God will bring nothing good either. As Dr. Esolen stated near the beginning of his speech, "Wherever I go, the world will be a fallen one. Not because of this or that political system, though some are much better than others. It will be a fallen one because I am in it." But what other reason are we here for if not to fix the brokenness we see around us? Thankfully, Dr. Esolen's speech didn't leave us stuck with this uncomfortable knowledge of our similarities to Satan. He went on to contrast the life lived like Satan with a life transformed by grace. Instead of aiming to change ourselves and the world by our own faulty power, he said, we should beg to be changed by the grace God offers. It is by this grace alone that true transformation is possible. As he spoke, I began to recognize the connections between God's grace and the ability we have to live good and complete lives. Because of God's grace, rather than seeking to change the world, we can learn to love the world and, as Dr. Esolen urged, to "defend what is good and right and noble" in the world. God's grace also defines the way in which we live from day to day, allowing us to live in love as we partake of the true and beautiful things of life, including the joys of family and friendship and of simple pleasures. This perspective reminds me of the catechism I learned as a young girl. As I used to recite in response to question one regarding man's purpose for existence, "Man's primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." Our purpose is not to change the world but to bring God glory through our lives. And we do that best when we, by his grace, live in a way that reflects God's truth and order. All my education has been aimed at that one goal--to better understand God's truth and to reflect it in my own life. Not to work marvelous transformation in the world. As Dr. Esolen wisely said, "Everything in me that is most fully mine alone is most worthy to be cast aside with the scraps." Without God's grace and left to my own devices, I am like Satan--a cosmic cause of havoc, a worthless piece of scum. But, in God's grace, my life has worth, and I can fulfill the purpose for which my Creator formed me. Rather than trying to change myself and the world, I can allow myself to be changed by the one who will make all things new. (You can watch the entirety of Dr. Esolen's commencement address on YouTube. Click here to access it.)