Lies the Devil Told Me: Unstoppable

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.”

One lie that the devil has fooled many of us into thinking is that we have plenty of time. Another lie that may be more applicable to us men is that we are unstoppable. As a result, we can take greater risks with our lives, our relationships, our time, and our souls.

Consider, the irrational urge to drive too fast and recklessly in order to impress or arrive somewhere sooner. Consider the desire to consume in excess. Consider the deception that our wealth can always give us whatever we desire. Consider the false idea that our positions of power make us better than other people. We are unstoppable… or so we think.

These are some examples of how we can feel pressured or tempted to disregard the precious gift of life, value other people’s lives less, and deceive ourselves into thinking that time is unlimited. So we might gamble with life and death by driving recklessly for inconsequential things. We might consume substances which push our bodies to its limits which could have life-threatening affects. We might think that we don’t need God because the world is at our fingertips due to our power and money. It’s a terrible lie to believe that we are unstoppable because that unstoppability could change at any moment. The evil one wants for us to not value our lives or the lives of others while also harboring pride in our hearts.

We should always consider life a gift and not believe the lie of the devil. Before I came to love the Lord, I too thought that I was unstoppable. I might not have told people that or even actively thought it, but I lived like that. There was plenty of time to enjoy all the fruits of the world and I would live to a ripe old age. However many people get terrible news of cancer diagnosis, heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, and other things that can bring time itself to a halt. We mustn’t think the music of this world will keep playing forever. The devil would have us keep dancing to his music all our lives thinking that the fun will never end and that we don’t need God, but nothing could be further from the truth.

No one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36). What we do know is that God has given us this moment of this day. Let us use this moment for humble prayer. Let us use this day for His glory. Let us use this life to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love one another.