The Great Deception

The great deception is not that there is no hell, or even that there is no God, it is there is no hurry. There is something in the human heart that filters out what is obviously true of every man—death awaits us all.

This deception is particularly strong in young people. They feel optimistic, untouchable, invincible. We all know this is an illusion, but at a young age the switch that allows the light of reality to penetrate the heart, has not been tuned on.

Of course there are two groups of people to consider. The lost, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2Co 4:4). Let us give all diligence to shine the light of the Gospel on those bound in spiritual darkness. Let us be sober in all things, endure hardship, and do the work of an evangelist for there sake (2Ti 4:5).

And, the other group, those who are being saved or who are already saved. The deception takes the form spiritual sloth and cowardliness. The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!" (Pro 22:13) The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him. (Mathew Henry).

Dearly beloved, God did not save us to be shrinking violets. He commissioned us to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He placed us in the vine to produce fruit. Don’t think your time to produce will last forever. Consider the fig tree. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered. (Mat 21:19)

This cursing of the barren fig-tree represents the state of hypocrites in general, and so teaches us that Christ looks for the power of religion in those who profess it, and the savour of it from those that have the show of it. His just expectations from flourishing professors are often disappointed; he comes to many, seeking fruit, and finds leaves only. A false profession commonly withers in this world, and it is the effect of Christ's curse. The fig-tree that had no fruit, soon lost its leaves. This represents the state of the nation and people of the Jews in particular. Our Lord Jesus found among them nothing but leaves. And after they rejected Christ, blindness and hardness grew upon them, till they were undone, and their place and nation rooted up. The Lord was righteous in it. Let us greatly fear the doom denounced on the barren fig-tree. (Matthew Henry).

Don’t buy into the deception that there is plenty of time to serve Christ. You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (Jas 4:14)