Devotional: False Appearance

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. – 2 Corinthians 11:14

In my room at the care center, there is a large window that takes up the entire top half of one wall. From the perspective of where I sit in my wheelchair, the view out the window is wonderful. I see tall, majestic citrus trees. I see a stately palm tree. I see a gorgeous mountain in the distance. From my perspective, the view out the window is paradise.

 photo credit: izzie_whizzie

If someone was to walk right up to the window and look out, he would see things from a different perspective. He would see a large tank holding liquid oxygen. He would see the hospital in the distance. He would see cars and trucks driving down a city street. And if he went outside, he would soon realize I live in a poor section of the fifth largest city in the United States. My view of paradise is a false appearance because I’m not seeing the whole picture.

We often see the false appearance of things. Sin itself looks wonderful at first. It tantalizes the flesh. It pleases the eyes. It strokes the ego. If sin did not look wonderful at first, who would be tempted to take the plunge? If sin looked horrendously ugly, who would ever succumb to it?

But because sin often has the false appearance of something pleasing, we are tempted to jump in with both feet. And then we soon discover the dark underbelly of sin. Indeed, we find that sin leads to death.

The closer we walk with God, we begin to see things from His perspective. We begin to see the whole picture. We see that the so-called beauty of sin is like a bright colorful paint job hiding the ugly rust underneath. We see the false appearance and have a greater opportunity to walk in truth.