Did You Get Fooled?
“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” 1 John 4:1
Did you get fooled on April first? Did someone trick you or say something unbelievable that you initially accepted? Did you see a joke headline or meme that shocked you until you remembered it was April 1st? Someone said that April 1st is the only day we are as skeptical about the internet as we should be!
I know that April 1st trickery is all in good, harmless fun. However, maybe it shows how vulnerable we can be, how naïve we sometimes are, and how careful we need to be in real life situations.
The Bible is full of warnings of deceptions:
“See that no one leads you astray…” Mt 24:4-5
“False christs and false prophets will arise…” Mt 24:24
“Do not be deceived…” 1 Co 6:9
“Do not be deceived…” 1 Co 15:33
“Do not be deceived…” Ga 6:7
“False teachers…will secretly…” 2 Pe 2:1
“Do not believe every spirit, but test…” 1 Jn 4:1
“Many deceivers have gone out into the world…” 2 Jn 1:7
“Let no one deceive you with empty words…” Ep 5:6
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy…” Co 2:8
If we learned anything from April Fools Day it is that we need to do a deep dive into the warnings in Scripture! But the greatest and hardest deception to see and avoid is self-deception:
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” Ja 1:22
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” 1 Jn 1:8
“if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue… he deceives his heart” Ja 1:26
“…if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” Ga 6:3
“Did you get fooled?” isn’t a question for just one day in the year! dd