August 24, 2006
Jellyfish Love
(the tentacles of life’s lies)
What a great gray rainy day to daydream about my beach bum days. Oh my, that was a few decades back. It’s fun remembering those brief respites from the demanding slave-like home life when I had to do dishes, clean my room and baby-sit my siblings. I loved the freedom of the sandy beaches, the crashing waves, and sun drenched hours away from people. Ok people lined the beaches but I spent most my time bobbing in the Pacific Ocean singing and thinking deep momentous thoughts. Occasionally there would float beside me a lovely graceful translucent creature that would cause me to swiftly find another place to dream away my time. In the water jellyfish are beautifully ethereal but perilous with almost invisible poison filled tentacles that sting. Even washed ashore they will display a wonderful range of blue colors and still able to sting an unsuspecting person or animal. Very, very painful – grown people scream their heads off. The smaller the victim the greater the paralysis. Some beauty you want to stay away from.
Satan can offer himself as beauty, looking lovely and inviting, and he can tempt us in very subtle ways. He is deceptive and cunning, alluring us and beckoning us daily. His tentacles of greed, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth and pride can reach out and grab us, infecting us with his poisonous sting either in or out of his comfortable environment.
God’s Word tells us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14
Sin can sting us because it is presented in such an appealing manner. It often offers a quick route to financial gains or social acceptance; or, it may also masquerade as love or give a false feeling of security. Sometimes sin will invade our lives when we are unaware, but most often, it knocks on our door tempting us with delights. Sin prevents us from serving God effectively, and can harden our hearts toward things of righteousness. Sin can keep us from forgiving others and keep us living in a self-locked prison. It can also keep us so self focused about how bad we feel that we become negatively pride full. Our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus, but temptation is not erased from our lives when we become Christians. We must recognize the disguised beauty of temptation and pray for strength to oppose and rebuff its lure. It’s not the temptation that is the sin – its giving into it. And what if you have given in? STOP! Turn away from the sin and turn towards God. His forgiveness awaits your repentance.
Lord Jesus, thank You for taking my sins to the cross. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to me so that I have the power within to resist temptation and turn towards You. Amen
A Pearl to String: A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.
Giggling in a "gotcha" hug from God,
Lyndi
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