I’m not sure if you were aware of it or not but, this past Sunday was the Super Bowl. And, for the seventh straight year, it was the highest rated event in television history with over 111 million viewers. The fact is that people love to watch the Super Bowl. People who don’t even like football will tune in to watch it (this described me for years). And, while many people tune in to watch the game, many more people tune in just to watch the commercials because they are spectacular! People love these commercials. And, already, the most popular commercial of the 2013 Super Bowl was the Budweiser “Clydesdale” ad. People love this commercial because it is “so heart-warming.” And, this is the way many Christians feel about it; they love it.
Why do I bring up this particular ad for our consideration? I do so to illustrate a point. When you boil it all down, what is the ad? It’s a beer commercial. Despite its “heart-warming” story, it’s an advertisement for sin.
We know that drunkenness and drinking “just one drink” are sins. In Ephesians 5:18, we are told not to be filled with wine. In Galatians 5:19-21, we see that drunkenness is a work of the flesh and a damnable offense. In First Peter 4:3-4, we see that ungodly people engage in drunkenness, social drinking, and casual drinking and that this should never describe the actions of Christians. In Proverbs 20:1, we see that it is one of the most unwise/foolish things a person can (and shouldn’t) do. And, while many Christians know these things, many Christians still loved that commercial.
You see, this is the way Satan works. Very rarely will he come to us with horns and a pitchfork, breathing fire and whipping his tail at us in a menacing manner. Rather, how does the Tempter most often appear to people who care about what is good? In Second Corinthians 11:14, we are told that people fall into his traps because he disguises himself as “an angel of light.” Satan puts on the appearance of goodness (like he did with Eve, Genesis 3:1-6). He gets people on his side with “heart-warming” images and messages. He tricks people into believing that sin is a good thing (Isaiah 5:20) and that holiness is just “being too uptight” or “no fun” or “intolerant.”
So often time, we think that Satan is openly attacking us with persecution. Yet, the fact of the matter is that he is very subtly influencing us in ways we may not even see or recognize (“How can such a heart-warming tale be bad?”). Satan knows what he’s doing and we need to always be SOBER & vigilant (1 Peter 5:8) and always ready to resist him at every turn (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7).
The Devil is out to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8). However, God does not want us to be destroyed, but rather wants us to be saved from the Death which our sin earns us (Romans 6:23a; John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9). So, let us not be fooled by the trickery of the Devil. But, let us always looked to God and obey the truth as is fitting for those who love the Lord.
~Curtis Carwile
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