1745 You’ve Been Tricked

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

When my kids were little, they could count on receiving a handmade card and a little money in the mail every holiday. Their Great-Grandma was world class in investing into their lives even with a long distance relationship. It’s now part of her legacy that has outlived her. One particular holiday, instead of the typical dollar or two, they each received a 20 dollar bill in their card. The kids were so excited and couldn’t wait to go shopping.

But one of my kids would never make it to the store to spend their money … there was trickery going on.

My son is the oldest of my 3 kids who are each born 1 year apart. Logan was born to be a business man. He sees opportunity and he capitalizes. The boy has always been slick. He saw his naive youngest sister with $20 and nowhere to spend it at the moment, so he moves in for the sale.

Logan gathers a collection of his broken, useless, unwanted old toys and says to Paola, “Pao, you can have all these toys, all of this right now, for your $20.” It looked like so much to her, and even more importantly it looked like something she could have right now instead of waiting for our next shopping trip, so she happily bought the trash with her new money.

Later that day, we overheard Logan bragging about his $40 of spending money, and discovered the bad deal that had been made.

My friend, have you made a bad deal? Have you unknowingly bought a plate of complete trash? Have you been tricked?

Tricked into settling for far less than you were created for. Tricked into believing lies that simply are not true about you, but adopting them as your identity. Tricked into doing things you never wanted to do, but now here you are ashamed that you’re doing them.

That’s the work of the devil. Satan is the deceiver. He’s the slimy snake who slithers his way in with complete trash for your life and convinces you to trade what you have for what he’s offering.

That’s what he did to Eve in the garden. Genesis 3 tells how Satan showed up in the Garden of Eden and tricks Eve into eating the apple, and so sin entered the world. Eve didn’t intentionally sin. She didn’t wake up that day deciding she was going to rebel. She was tricked. Tricked by the deceiver. Tricked into trading her perfect life in the garden for the offer of knowing what she didn’t know by eating the one fruit God told her she couldn’t eat.

And maybe this is what has happened to you. You too have been tricked. Tricked into some stupid choices that have created chaos in your life. Tricked into going down a path you never intended. You didn’t wake up one day thinking, “today is the day I’m going to really screw some things up”. You were tricked. Tricked into buying the trash offered by the enemy of your soul.

And sweet girl, that’s how you end up with a trashy life. You buy the trash from the deceiver, the devil. You weren’t created for a trashy life. When God designed you, he had unbelievably good plans for you. He looked at you and called you his masterpiece. But, you have been deceived into believing there’s something wrong with you, you don’t belong, you’re broken, you’re too far gone, and this is all there is for you. But honey, that’s not the truth. The stories you’ve believed were crafted in the pits of hell.

We also see how the enemy deceived one of Jesus’ closest friends. Judas has a bad name now, but before his big screw up, he was hand selected by Jesus to be one of his 12 disciples to personally learn from him. Jesus was training him. Judas knew who Jesus was. He had a personal relationship with him. Yet, Satan slipped in and tricked him.

Mark 14 has a paragraph in my Bible titled, “Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus.” Who did Judas agree with? Satan! And with this agreement with the deceiver, Judas betrays Jesus for the offering of 30 silver coins. In today’s money, that’s about $250.

If this personal friend of Jesus’, this man who had been living with Jesus for 3 years being personally trained by him, this man who had seen firsthand the miraculous power of Jesus… He was there when Jesus was baptized by John and he heard a loud voice from heaven say, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” Judas had literally heard the voice of God! Yet, even he was tricked by Satan into betraying Jesus and handing him over for crucifixion.

What does this tell me … this tells me I’m not above being tricked either. I’m not immune from this offering of trash. I’m not too good, too spiritual, or too strong to be tricked by the deceiver.

Satan is constantly trying to offer us a plate of trash in exchange for what Jesus has given us. Jesus has given us freedom, Satan tries to tick us into trading that freedom for a life of bondage. Jesus has offered us grace, Satan tries to trick us into trading that grace for guilt. Jesus offers us a life of purpose, Satan tries to trick us into trading that purpose for pleasure.

And absolutely no different than my son tricking his little sister into buying that plate of trash for her brand new 20 dollar bill, we’re tricked into buying the trash our enemy offers, and we fall for it because we underestimate the value of what we have. We don’t want to wait, we want something right now. And we settle for less just because it’s now. We settle for trash just because it’s in front of us.

And once we’ve been tricked into settling for trash once, it’s what we believe we deserve. It’s who we become. It’s the story we tell.

Tricked. Tricked into believing we could never have anything better. Tricked into believing we could never be good enough.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Eve was deceived by the serpent. That serpent was the great deceiver, Satan. Now, that’s what he’s trying to do to you. He’s trying to lead your mind astray. He’s trying to trick you into thinking the wrong thoughts, believing the wrong stories, and seeing yourself in a way God never created you to be.

Revelation 12:9 calls him out like this, “This great dragon – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world …”

It’s time for God’s girls to stop and ask, where have I been deceived? What am I believing about myself that is not God’s truth? What offering of trash have I been tricked into buying that’s brought trash into my life?

When I found out my son had tricked his little sister into buying his trash, I stepped in to teach the lesson. I made him give Paola back her $20, plus the $20 he had received in the mail as well.

That’s what God does to the deceiver. He makes him give it all back, plus more! Satan has been defeated. He is a fallen foe who’s fate is the pits of hell forever with all his demons. He’s been put in his place. Now, God wants his girl to realize her place.

Your place is not this trash you’ve bought. Let God turn you back to the truth and back to the full potential for your life now! It’s time to take back what the enemy has tricked you out of!

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