The Devil's Bait

Read: 1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. —1 John 2:15

I once read about an interesting method used by people in North Africa to catch monkeys. A hunter hollows out a gourd and makes a hole in its side just large enough for a monkey to insert his open hand. The gourd is then filled with nuts and tied to a tree.

The curious monkey is attracted by the smell of the nuts and reaches inside and grasps them. The hole in the gourd is too small, however, for the animal to withdraw his fist as long as it is tightly closed around the nuts. Because he refuses to release his prize, the unsuspecting monkey falls easy prey to his captor. Unwilling to relax his grasp, he actually traps himself!

Satan uses a similar method to ensnare us. He tempts us to grasp after more and more material possessions, which we think will bring us security. As long as we tenaciously hold on to them, we are enslaved. How relevant is the biblical warning, "Do not love the world or the things in the world" (1 John 2:15). The apostle John also said that "the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (v.17).

Remember what happened to the monkey. Don't be fooled by the devil's bait! —Richard De Haan

Take the world, but give me Jesus—
All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same. —Crosby

You can't store up treasures in heaven if you're holding on to the treasures of earth.

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