Got It Backward

This summer has reminded me of the ultimate lie of the devil.  In the garden, he convinced Eve that God was holding out on her, that God's love was actually restriction and that she would be better off doing her own thing.  This summer I have seen several people turning their back, not only on God, but on other people who love them and want good things for them because they are convinced that love is really restriction and loss.  Instead, they make choices that will destroy their freedom and happiness, and hurt many around them because they believe that if they follow their own way, that will be better.  It is so sad when you see someone go that way, so convinced in their mind that they will find happiness when you know that it will turn to ashes in the end.

I am reminded of a story my grandmother told me.  She told me that when she was a girl, she didn't want to have to go to bed at her bedtime.  She wanted to stay up.  So her mom and dad decided that she could.  They finished their evening and went to bed.  They had to shut out the oil lamps when they went to bed, leaving my grandmother sitting up alone with only the light of the woodfire.  Finally, after sitting around for a bit bored, Grammie went to bed.  Turned out she wasn't missing out on as much as she thought.

I think satan talks us into the same thing.  He convinces us that those that love us, especially God, are really witholding ultimate good from us and we need to break away and pursue something better.  But satan has nothing better.  Instead, all he has is empty promises and ways that destroy us.  God offers us love and life, if only we will accept Him and follow after Him.  There is no good outside of God and there is great good in Him!