Deception

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Read:

Mark 13:5-6


Reflect:

Two days before our wedding I was tasked to pick up the table flowers. While waiting for the market to open, I came up with a fiendish prank: I would call my wife pretending to be the flower shop owner and tell her there was a problem. I was so good that it took some serious convincing (and apologising) that all was okay.

That was before we got married. If I would try that now (I would not dare...) my wife would see through my deception in moments.

In today’s passage Jesus warns His disciples to not be deceived. ‘Many will come in my name… and will deceive many’ (v. 6). How will we be able to discern what is Jesus and what is not? I think it is only by knowing Jesus intimately. Jesus says in John 10:27 that His sheep listen to His voice, He knows them and they follow Him. The key to keep from being deceived is to get to know Jesus intimately before the deception comes by reading the Bible, praying, and listening to His voice through the Holy Spirit. May we all be able to discern His voice today and in the days to come.


Respond:

Lord Jesus, thank you that I can know you intimately. Please help me get to know you better. Fill me with your Spirit that I may be able to know who you are, what you are doing and what I need to do. Please quiet the voices that try to distract me from knowing you. Amen.


Remind:

”Should the believer neglect the teaching of the Bible, failing to watch and pray even though trusting his pure motive to keep him from deception, he shall be deceived.”

~Watchman Nee~


Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

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