Have you ever honestly stopped to consider just how much evil there is in the world – the famines, the injustices, the natural disasters, the accidents, the wars, the illnesses, and so forth? The total sum of evil and human misery is truly staggering.

And frankly, it takes more faith to believe it all happens by chance than to believe it happens because a powerful, evil spiritual being is behind it. Just as the creation bears witness to its Creator, so evil bears witness to its creator: Satan. Don’t think of him as a cute little figure with a pitchfork and a red suit; Satan is ferocious and terrible, and his one goal is to destroy everything that is good. Jesus called Satan “a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him” (John 8:44).

But the Bible tells us something even more important about the devil: He is a defeated foe. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, Satan thought he had finally won. God’s Son had been destroyed! But three days later Christ rose from the dead – and death and Hell and Satan were defeated. And someday that victory will be complete, and Satan will be bound forevermore (see Revelation 20:10).

Yes, Satan is real – but so is Jesus Christ, and so is God’s power to change our lives and give us hope for the future. And this hope can be yours, by giving your life to Jesus Christ today.