Luke 11:21-23

Luke 11:21-23 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

We tend to believe life will go on as it has in the past. However, as we look back on the last decade, we realize the world changes very rapidly. Even in our personal lives, things have changed. For many of us our role in life has changed, our circumstances have changed. We might have a different job now, a different home, and all the challenges that such changes introduce into our lives. Things do change. But as Christians the numerator of life might change, but the denominator is always the same: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He is the strongman we Christians trust completely.

In and through Jesus Christ, God's Son, we have found life that does not depend on this world or its changes. Our trust is not in our income, our job, our role, our home, or even in our existence. Our trust is in the Lord--his plans, his power, his sufficiency. Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35) We know, even if our graves would disappear, even if every evidence of life would disappear, God WILL NEVER DISAPPEAR. He is the unchanging variable in existence, the same yesterday and today and forever. His throne is from everlasting to everlasting. Our earth might turn to dust, but God will exist; He is omnipresent and He will take care of us, his beloved children.

The devil, the deceiver, incessantly tries to scatter, to destroy. If Christians allow their flesh to reign in their lives, if they look to this world to sustain them and to make them happy, the devil will take advantage of that attitude. The devil uses our flesh to make himself the strongman in our lives. If he becomes the strongman in our existence through our own fleshly desires, he certainly will divide up the spoils: children, friends, acquaintances, self-worth, everything. But praise God, he will not overwhelm us if daily we place our lives in the hands of the real strongman, GOD HIMSELF. We are secure in God's hands.

The apostle Paul wrote, I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Nothing can degrade our lives, take away the spoil of our lives, if we remain faithful to God. And of course, nothing can take away God's Spirit from us if our lives are firmly established on the eternal foundation, the omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God. My friend, do not fear change, do not fear tomorrow. Life might not go on the way you desire, but as we seek his kingdom first, God is in all things for those who trust him. We have confidence God will carry us through this life to his bosom, where there will be no departing, no separation, no tears. We will be in the unchangeable, everlasting arms of our Father God, there to praise him for all eternity.