“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

There are then two kinds of struggles we face in life. One is a struggle of flesh and blood. There are plenty of those struggles to go around. Natural disasters, raging disease, a fallen world and fallible neighbors. Sometimes, just dealing with those is a burden that pulls us down to our knees. Just ask the folks who have endured a flood or a tornado. Add in heavy snow and freezing temperatures or heavy rain and high humidity. Failed crops, lost possessions, lost relationships, burned houses, financial ruin, terminal disease and the list, goes on.

What we often lose sight of is that those things are a part of life on the earth and are limited to earth. In light of the real struggle, these things are minor. Doesn’t seem like it while it’s going to us, though. Seems like it’s the real deal. The reason that is so is because we don’t know how to truly value things. We confuse the here and now with the yet to come. Treasures on earth seem more real and thus more valuable than treasures in heaven.

Without realizing it our earthly house and its furniture becomes more important than the place Jesus is preparing. Our earthly bodies more valuable than the new body we will receive at the end of the world. No, the struggle is not for bricks and stones; it is not for flesh and blood and the good life on planet earth. The real struggle is for our souls.

“What will a man exchange his soul for?” is the question that the Son of God asks us. We can list our possessions and put them on one side of the scales and our soul on the other and check the scales. Those possessions we place on the left scale have a monetary value which is probably less than the national debt. The soul on the right is worth the life and blood of God in the flesh. The combined national debt of the nations of earth could not purchase one tiny drop that fell from a thorn.

We are in a struggle for that soul. God wants it, and the Devil wants it. God offered his Son to pay for your soul, and the Devil offers …  Fill in the blank with what you are exchanging yours for if you are.

Task for Today: Realize that you are in a war and the battleground is your heart. The victor wins your immortal soul. You are not fighting North Korea, or Russia or any known terrorist group. You are fighting an unseen powerful evil force that wants to suck the soul right out of you. Fight back!