Daily Devotional for June 24, 2019
Baloney Sandwich (Part 1)
“Food tastes so good out here!” Levi said as his family enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park. He took a big bite of his sandwich, and his sister Nina started to laugh.
“I’m glad you like the food out here so much,” she said with a grin. “That little black ant you just ate must have added extra flavor!”
“Oh no!” Levi exclaimed. Everyone laughed as he carefully searched through the rest of his sandwich.
“Don’t worry, Levi. One little ant won’t make you sick,” Mom assured him.
“No,” Dad said. “An ant in a sandwich is not so bad, but I heard about some really bad sandwiches in my class at church last week.”
“You did?” asked Nina. “What kind were they?”
“The kind of sandwiches Satan likes to make—truth on the outside, baloney in the middle,” Dad replied. “Satan likes to deceive people by surrounding his lies with truth. That makes him very dangerous.”
“But why would Satan want to tell us anything that’s true?” asked Levi. “I thought he just tried to get us to believe lies.”
“Think about it. Would you have taken a bite of your sandwich if the whole thing was full of ants?” Dad asked.
“Of course not,” said Levi. “I wouldn’t have eaten even one if I’d seen it, but the rest of my sandwich was so good that I didn’t even notice the ant.”
“That’s what Satan counts on—that people won’t notice the bad parts if he sprinkles enough good things into what they hear,” Dad explained.
“But what sort of good things does he tell people?” Nina asked.
“Well, some religious groups teach that we should love everybody and do good deeds,” replied Dad. “That’s true, but some of those same groups teach that Jesus was just a good man, not the Son of God who died to save us from our sin.”
“Oh, that is bad,” said Nina.
Dad nodded. “A little ant in your stomach won’t kill you, but a wrong belief in your heart can hurt you spiritually. That’s why we need to check everything we hear with what the Bible says and trust the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom. We need to be careful not to swallow Satan’s lies. They’re full of baloney!” •Sherry L. Kuyt
How about you?
Are you aware that Satan often mixes some truth into his lies? If someone quotes a Bible verse in support of something they believe, do you think all of what they say must be true? Watch out! Satan wants to fool you. The real, whole truth is in the Word of God. Compare everything you hear with what the Bible says. Don’t swallow a lie!
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