Lots of things look really good to me that by experience I know lead to false promises, bad decisions and painful consequences. You and I shouldn’t be surprised by this. Paul, in a warning about false teachers infecting several early churches, added this insight: even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Satan still camouflages dreadful philosophies and lifestyles in bright, shiny packages. Anything to deflect you and me from the truth, and to keep our eyes turned away from what matters to the Lord.

I’m drawn to the latest tech gadgets, be it a new phone or faster, thinner computer. I live in Colorado and beefy SUVs catch my eye. I would savor life better behind the wheel of one. But that’s not true. I have an quality phone and a fast, thin computer. I drive a Jeep. But I want more. I believe the lie that I need more stuff to enjoy life. But the truth is that things are to be used, and people are to be enjoyed. I flip that to my detriment.

I like feeling secure. So I count on money and resources to make me happy and safe. Yet the Scriptures say that money is the root of all sorts of evil. Which is why a false angel sends me in that direction. Jesus said, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? I can stay generous with the money in my hands. God has plenty and shares willingly.

Another virus infecting my thinking tells me that I’m the master of my own fate, the captain of my life. I sit upon the throne of my life. But the longer I’m in charge, the more I veer dangerously off course. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life—not me, and not the evil one in disguise.

Other lies entice me to cheat on the ways of God. What about you? How does Satan manipulate your heart? The tempter knows his business and continually throws up clever facades. Our only hope is to seek guidance from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Satan’s falsehoods flicker and go dark, but the light of Christ shines brighter the longer we seek it out.

2 Corinthians 11:14

Photo by Niklas Hamann

If I want advice on how to live my life, I simply need to head to a magazine stand, a bookstore, or scroll the internet. There I’ll find ways to exercise and get in shape, diets to maximize brain health, investment strategies to create wealth, and examples of how to influence people and win friends. All proven mechanisms to better myself.

While I indeed find many of these ideas helpful, a deeply flourishing life lies elsewhere. The fiery prophet Jeremiah pointed in the right direction:

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Intelligence, power and wealth make the world go around. What holds greater value in our society? Mix in good looks and you have it made. But Jeremiah shifts the target. How to create a life worth emulating? How to truly flourish? Invest in understanding and knowing the Lord. Open the Scriptures, read, listen, study and pray. Call on the Holy Spirit for guidance. Plow the fields of love, justice and righteousness, and reap the goodness of God.

Jeremiah wrote 2500 years ago, but I hear no better advice from all the chattering voices of our society today. Know the Lord and know life, that’s solid wisdom to build a life upon.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Photo by Shiromani Kant

Sometimes I’m reticent to bring God into a conversation. I sense the person in front of me is not interested, or I might offend them. Other times I worry they may think less of me, or I might not garner their approval. Usually I’m wrong. If the topic of the divine arises, many people are polite and ask questions. Some respond enthusiastically. Occasionally someone grows quiet and declines to talk further. The responses always surprise me.

Paul and his missionary band initiated conversation after conversation about Jesus. Many in their audience advanced their own views and perspectives in an attempt to counter these teachings about the Messiah. But Paul understood the authority behind his reasoning:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Every thought captive refers to more than our personal mindset. Every single rationalization and counterpoint brought against the wisdom of God eventually fails. Christ shackles the opinions of leading thinkers. The assertions of scoffers never rise to the challenge. The great philosophers fail.

I forget to my detriment the otherworldly power found in the Word of God. The words of Jesus carry a strength beyond any other. I share my own opinion of God and find a tepid response, but I speak the Word of God and light a fuse. Never forget the divine nature of the Bible. Read it, say it aloud, and tell it to others. Let loose God’s divine power in a world of desperate need.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Photo by Yaoqi

Jeremiah brought a scathing message to the leaders of Judah. These men and women rejected the Lord, worshipped foreign gods, and in Jeremiah’s understated but profound line, went after things that do not profit.

There’s a convicting thought. What things do I go after that do not profit?

Instagram reels immediately come to mind. While humorous and entertaining, does that hour pay dividends in the long run? Or chasing the news cycle across various platforms—do all the thoughts and opinions of commentators prove advantageous? I love football, but how many games in a weekend tip over into to a net loss? But let’s not get crazy…

Jeremiah spoke not of money but of the soul. A flourishing life and hope for eternity depends on our relationship with God. Anything that pulls us away, that separates us from the Lord falls into the category of things that do not profit.

Perhaps you’d like to take stock with me and think through your daily routine. Delete an app, or go for a walk and leave the phone behind when the urge to consume media gets too great. Whatever it takes, because as another well-quoted person in the Bible once said, what does if profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

Jeremiah 2:8 & Mark 8:36

Photo by Emma Shappley