Lent, Day 33: by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil

"Dada, where is Satan?" Eliot asked me tonight. "I don't know," I said, "down here on earth somewhere. . . but don't worry, Jesus has vanquished him."

First, it's not good to have your five year old ask you a question like this the same day you just lectured on Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison (1 Pet 3:19) in your upper division religion course, since your filters are likely to be poorly adjusted and you end up saying something scarry as hell and just dumb like "he is somewhere down here on earth" and using the word "vanquish." God forgive me and protect him from my words. (He fell asleep shortly thereafter; I'll let you know if he wakes up screaming in the middle of the night.)

Suffice it to say, I've been thinking a lot about Satan and how Jesus has vanquished him. I know that he has, but I can't figure out why I don't live like he has - why I still give into my sinful desires, why I still want to be in control and yet know full well that I'll crash the car the moment I'm behind the wheels. How do I let Jesus vanquish me?

I'll start here, with a prayer: Lord Jesus, set me free and take me to you. Please.