In Disguise

I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve…, so your minds may be corrupted. – 2 Corinthians 11:3

It’s often difficult to understand why people give in to certain temptations. From our vantage point, their problem should be easy to handle.

We may even wonder how Adam and Eve could have been so foolish as to have thrown aside all that God had given them in the dawn of their existence. We wouldn’t have fallen so easily – or would we?

Part of the problem is that Satan wears a disguise when he slithers into our lives. As Mephistopheles says in the drama Faust, "People do not know the devil is there even when he has them by the throat."

The Bible tells us that the serpent was "more cunning than any beast of the field" (Genesis 3:1). No ominous hissing or rattling warned of danger. He didn’t ask, "Pardon me, may I have 20 minutes to destroy your life?"

Public Enemy No. 1 uses the same tactics today as he did back then. He appeals to our sinful desires (1 John 2:15-16). Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light, and his cohorts appear as ministers of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:14-15; 1 John 2:18-19).

To resist temptation and to detect Satan’s deceptions, we must live in close fellowship with Christ (1 John 2:28). Then we won’t be fooled by Satan’s disguises. – Haddon W. Robinson

When sin entices and allures,

Its lies must be ignored;

The strength to gain the victory

Comes when we trust the Lord. – Sper

READ: 1 John 2:15-29

You need to know God’s truth to see through Satan’s lies.

The Bible in one year:

• 1 Samuel 17-18

• Luke 11:1-28