Tuesday the 25th

Mark 3:27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man.

 

Christ is pointing out the obvious here, Evil does not combat evil, nor does good destroy good. If anything turns on itself then it is powerless to the outside, because of the turmoil on the inside.  What is often missed here is just what is meant by entering the house and plundering the strong man’s property. While many might see this as, us being the strong man and the devil being the plunderer, when we look at the story as a whole we see that what Christ is saying is He has come into the world (entered the house) and tied up the strong man (the Devil) and Christ is actively plundering the Devil’s property (freeing people of this world from the devil).  The important piece of information here is that Jesus has tied up the strong man! By His life, death, and resurrection, Christ has defeated sin, and death. We are no longer bound to the chains of this world nor the will of the devil…….however we forget that sometimes don’t we? Christ has declared victory over evil, so that we all might live in the light of His love; but just like a mafia boss that has been incarcerated, the devil is still sending out his minions. He is always looking for a way out of the ties that bind him. So just like the kid who pokes a stick at the cat in a cage, we too allow the devil to tempt us. We feel powerless to stop, we say things like I had no choice, I could not help it, there was no other way. These phrases loosen the binds that Christ paid such a high price to tie. We do have a choice, we have far more power than we realize. We forget that the battle is over and Christ has won. The devil is just looking to win a skirmish or two, and he is hoping that you will provide him with a big win today. Let us not forget that in Christ we find our refuge, and our strength. He has bound the strong man, and is actively using us to plunder the devil’s playground.   Christ has used people just like us to continue His work here on Earth, and make no mistake about it. The strong man is still bound, we can fearlessly carry out the Lord’s work, we can march victoriously through our lives knowing that Christ has made us, the unworthy, worthy.  We have been adopted into His family, and this house is now ours. Claim it!

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

 

www.theworkweekwithchrist.blogspot.com