“So, um, how many hairs would you allow in your burger?”
I nearly lost it.
“That’s disgusting!! I get it, but THAT’S disgusting!”
My friend laughed. One of his pastors had asked him that question about how many lies he would allow with his truth.
In Matthew 4:1-11, the enemy tempts Jesus with his own per-versions of the Word of God.
Where do you draw the line?
When do you finally decide, “enough is enough”?
Two young elders would meet my friends and I on the basketball court on Tuesdays because it was the only day they didn’t have to wear their special clothes related to their beliefs.
Off the courts, they would attempt to proselytize us, telling us the great things about their church.
At first it sounded great but the deeper we got into it, the further from the Truth it got, the more often we all went back to just playing basketball.
We prayed for these guys, knowing our ‘human effort’ only did so much.
Over time another two elders joined us and then, one day, only two, one from each of the pairs, came and both on a Friday. They had both stepped away from following their beliefs. They let us pray with them to meet the real Jesus and became Christians.
One stayed in Modesto, no longer accepted by his family and the other went home to ‘face the music’ as he said, and tell his folks about Jesus.
“My brothers and sisters, if one of you wanders away from the truth, and someone helps that person come back, remember this: Anyone who brings a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner’s soul from death and will cause many sins to be forgiven.” – James 5:19-20
The enemy doesn’t always blatantly lie to our faces. He’ll use just enough of God’s Word to make it easy for us to justify continuing in his subtlety.
Guard your heart and your burger.
