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Back when gas prices began to be so outrageously high, the news media spent a lot of time on stories related to the issue. One story I saw on television at the time was that customers in some locations were being tricked into purchasing gas at one price, only to find when they swiped their credit card a higher price was charged. This was because the price on the sign was the “cash” price, but the price went up when a person used a credit card. This type of trick is called “bait and switch,” where you offer a great looking product, but when the customer is locked in to the purchase, a lesser product is substituted without the customer’s knowledge.
As I watched that news segment, I got to thinking that Satan is like that, isn’t he? He runs the old “bait and switch” on us all the time. He promises us something grand to get us to disobey God, but then when we get what we desired it turns out to be worthless! Or worse, spiritually destructive. In what ways does he do this to us?
Satan baits us with riches, but what we really get is covetousness and all kinds of evil. As we know, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). But covetousness (love of and desire for money and things) can cause us to refrain from a close walk with Jesus. Remember the Bible’s account of the rich young ruler (Matt. 19:16-22)? He was eager to know about eternal life, but when Jesus showed him that his covetousness was holding him back, he went away dejected because he loved his worldly possessions. We cannot serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). Satan wants us to pay attention to physical goods to the detriment of our souls. He baits us with material wealth, only to switch it with destruction. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). Like Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the physical temple, we must be willing to overturn the tables of covetousness in our spirits!
Satan baits us with physical pleasure, but what we really get is disease, heartache, and judgment to come. Bathsheba was beautiful to David, and he desired to have her, but it was not right in God’s eyes {2 Sam. 11:2-4). Misery began heaping upon misery, as David killed Bathsheba’s husband and took her as a wife. Because of this act that displeased God, David’s house would be troubled continually (2 Sam. 12:9-11). Paul wrote that the body is not for sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:13), so we should flee from it (1 Cor. 6:18). It is God’s will that we abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thess. 4:3-5). Satan presents us with opportunities for sexual sin. But after the bait and switch, what we really get is heartache as we reap the consequences of our actions.
Satan baits us with power, but what we really get is slavery. How vivid is the retelling ofJesus Christ being tempted by Satan! Indeed, Satan boasted to offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would bow down and worship him (Matt. 4:8-10). The bait and switch, of course, is that when we obey Satan, we become his slave (Romans 6:16). Satan’s methods may seem to make us powerful in this world, but in the end we reap only destruction.
Don’t find yourself caught on Satan’s hook! The things he baits us with look attractive in the moment, but when the fraud is revealed, we are left holding a bag of sin that results in our own spiritual destruction.
Matt Clifton
BulletinDigest.com