“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3
Several times over the past weeks, the view from any window has been bright. The sky was clear with shining sun and white dainty clouds. All markers pointed to lovely WARM weather. However, whenever I’d go outside, it was brisk, chilly, downright cold. If I ventured outside without the appropriate jacket, I was shivering in minutes. I was deceived by the lovely sky and confronted with the cold reality that it’s not summer yet. This deception was small, and no harm was done, but deception can have deadly consequences.
“The act of causing someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.” This is the Merriam-Webster definition for deception/deceit. Some synonyms for deceit are cheat, burn, con, mislead, string along, fake out, or trick. There is a power at work in this world, intentionally duping, tricking, misleading. A power bent on separating souls from Jesus for all eternity.
If someone deceives your friend, your child, your parent, or your spouse how do you feel? If you know the truth, you realize the act of deception which tells them false things that will end up hurting them. How do they feel? You will probably get angry for the pain they have experienced, and the ones deceived most likely feel loss and shame because deception covers up truth and presents a lie instead. On behalf of those we love, we want to confront the lie and uncover the truth. We want light to break the darkness of deception.
Why is this any different when we see people (not of our direct, inner-circle) grappling with the deception of Satan day-in, day-out? We, as Christ-followers have access to truth, and we have the power to break the charade of Satan’s “game”. Too often we act like the priest and Levite and expect someone else to be the good Samaritan.
When will we get serious about that great commission, the one that tells us to spread the good news? When will we realize, if we refuse to intervene when we see others entangled in the mire, that is failing to see the Devil’s scheme? When we get mad at the Devil for his mission to mislead, con, and burn those around us, we can do something about it. The most effective thing we can do is pray. Then, after God speaks to us, we can do something practical, in love, and be the hands and feet of Jesus. *
Is it heartbreaking that the Devil’s goal is to absolutely burn people? “Burn” was a term popular for a while which meant someone was humiliated or insulted. Do we empathize when we see hurting people in this light? Dupe is a lighter version of the term deceive. Does it frustrate to know the Devil gets pleasure from misleading people? The Devil knows Jesus’ truth is too good to deny, so he covers it and lays false tracks and tricks people into thinking his ways are better than the chain-breaking freedom we find in Christ.
Satan doesn’t care about people. He hates everyone. His only goal is to hurt. To hurt both Creator and created, he will trick, dupe, burn, and string people along into an eternity of suffering and separation from a holy and loving God. What a tragedy.
When you see something that wrenches your heart, pray that the power of deception over that person be broken and the truth of Jesus be poured out on him. Don’t rush to judgment. That’s never our responsibility. Statements like, “That person will burn in hell for that” or “He will get what he deserves someday” come from a place of condemnation not love. We’ve heard lines like this; maybe we’ve said things like this. I’m guilty of judging instead of loving. How can we reconcile this mindset when while Jesus was on the cross, He said forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing? The true Jesus laid down His life so that all could join Him. The real Jesus put others above Himself for their redemption. The saving Jesus fellowshipped with the needy, so that they might know Him.
We cannot go on setting ourselves up like the Priest and the Levite, to clean to help the needy, lest we get dirty ourselves. How was it that people came to know Jesus? He revealed Himself through loving acts that attended to needs and dealt gingerly with the heart. When we see people who maybe accept as true or valid what is false or invalid, let us have compassion, let Christ fight the deceiver, while we reveal Him through our compassionate words and works. We who love Jesus have a high call to love and serve.
““Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Luke 10:36
*There are atrocities that happen that I’m not addressing. We can only act in the capacity God reveals to us and trust Him to work according to His supreme wisdom.
