For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. –II Corinthians 11:13-15
My son Aaron knows a great deal about computers, far more than me, in fact. One afternoon Aaron was trying to install a program on his computer and he was having problems doing so. He said that the program kept asking for an installation disc that would only work with a floppy drive. Most of you probably know that PC’s these days don’t have floppy drives as they have become obsolete. Aaron decided to tackle this problem another way: He asked me if I still had in my possession a flash drive which I’ve had for four or five years. I did have the flash drive in question which happened to be among the first ones on the market. Aaron’s strategy was simple: He used the old outdated flash drive to trick his computer into thinking that it was a floppy. The ruse worked and he was able to install the program on his computer.
Pondering this situation with the computer caused me to consider that the forces of evil can function in like manner. The devil can deceive people into believing that what they have is genuine, when in fact they have been duped. What the devil passes off as getting our lives on track is a false program. In the end we will discover that we were given lies and counterfeit hope. The devil never keeps his promises, yet he is skilled at deceiving people into believing that they have found what they need. Rather than looking to Christ for peace of mind, joy, and contentment, people are tricked into thinking that they can find those blessings in what the world offers. Countless people search for love and happiness in all the wrong places and sadly their search often brings heartache and more problems. This search can lead to the pain of drug and alcohol abuse, failed relationships, bitterness, anger, and unfulfilled dreams. Jesus Christ extends an invitation to bypass such pain and anguish and put our faith in Him.
What Jesus offers is in fact the genuine article. Christ offers true joy, peace, love, forgiveness, stability, and hope. In Christ there is hope for today, strength for tomorrow, and peace about the future. We need not fear tomorrow, for we know who holds today. Trust in the Lord, for what He offers is 100% real.
