Pretty Wrapping

The box is sitting on your front doorstep when you get home. You weren't expecting it. You didn't order anything. You wonder what it could be. You take it inside. The box is wrapped in pretty paper complete with a bow on top. Some sort of gift, apparently. So you tear into it and immediately head to the bathroom to stop the bleeding because it turned out to be full of broken glass and you're bleeding now. Now, stop and rewind that story. The box at your doorstep is not wrapped in pretty paper. It has markings like "Danger" and "Handle with Care." Now you don't rip it open; you open it with caution. Why? Because the box is properly marked to warn you. Life is like that. We are constantly given dangerous things with ambivalent markings and we might carelessly injure ourselves because we aren't paying attention.

What am I talking about? Well, Scripture is clear that the world is opposed to Christ (e.g., John 15:18; 1 John 5:19; Rom 8:5-8). This box has been packaged for us with careful and clear warnings. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15) But Satan has packaged the world so nicely. How can it be wrong?

This is the approach that Satan used in Eden. He wasn't loud, rude, or offensive. He was subtle, friendly, enticing. He was "on Eve's side." "Did God actually say you couldn't eat from any tree in the garden?" (Gen 3:1). She corrected him, but he wasn't done. "You were misinformed. You won't actually die" (Gen 3:4). "I'm on your side," he was telling her. "I don't want you to miss out on all the good stuff. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God" (Gen 3:5). Colorful wrapping, friendly demeanor, an "it's all good" approach, and Adam and Eve brought sin into the world.

So we fall for it. A lot. We know that the world system is not our friend, but we smuggle it in every chance we get. We open the window of our minds through the television and movies and music and entertainment. "It won't do any harm; it's just entertainment." And it lies to us ... constantly. With pretty pictures and fun storylines and pretty funny humor it feeds us lies from Hell and we ... swallow. We know that God's Word is true and trustworthy and authoritative, but you have to admit that "God loves everyone, so He embraces our sin as well" sounds much more heartwarming than "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). So we buy the first and ignore the second ... the truth. Which is "kinder and gentler": "We want all people regardless of sexual immoralities, to feel loved and encouraged" or "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" (1 Cor 6:9)? So we diminish the latter because the former is packaged much better.

We tend to be mindless at times. We miss the clear warnings of God's Word and operate on our emotional intuition. "My, my, doesn't this look pretty?" So we tear into this nicely wrapped box offered on our favorite sitcom or that heartwarming message of acceptance of the sins God forbids and we find ourselves lacerated and bleeding -- sometimes so skillfully that we don't recognize the injury. That's why we are told, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). "Test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess 5:21). Don't be fooled by "an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14).