Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. (Mark 13:5-6 NIV)
Has anyone ever told you a lie and you believed them? There is a picture book by Evaline Ness called Sam Bangs and Moonshine. In this story a little boy named Thomas believed a lie that an older girl called “Sam” told him. She said he could find her baby kangaroo out on the rocks in the ocean. The little boy ran out on the rocks to find it because he always believed Sam’s lies. Meanwhile a storm came up and the tide came in. Thomas was rescued, but he got very sick and might have drowned if the men hadn’t gotten to him in time.
Sam learned her lesson about telling lies (her dad called lying moonshine). I hope little Thomas learned how to know when someone was lying to him as he grew up.
Today’s Bible verse tells us to be careful to not let anyone deceive us. Sam deceived Thomas with her lies. Has anyone ever tried to deceive you? Perhaps someone wanted you to steal some candy in a store so they told you it was free. Perhaps someone wanted you to try some drugs and they said it would make you feel good. People who tell you things like this are trying to deceive you. They are not your friends.
The biggest deceiver of all is Satan. He doesn’t want you to believe in Jesus. He wants you to make bad choices, so he makes them seem like fun. But his “fun” doesn’t last. Like Thomas on the rocks in the storm, the fun ended suddenly. Remember Satan wants to hurt us.
Satan’s biggest lie is to pretend that he is Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus will come again and make everything good. He will put an end to Satan forever. Satan knows this is going to happen. So he keeps looking for ways to spread lies. His worst trick is to make a bad person look like he is Jesus’ friend, so the bad person can pretend to lead you to Jesus. But this person isn’t really Jesus’ friend and he will do everything he can to keep you from knowing Jesus.
How can you know if you are being lied to about Jesus? How can you know if you are learning the good things God wants you to know? The answers are in the Bible. It is important to start learning what the Bible really says while you are young. Then you will know if someone is teaching you true things about Jesus.
Here are two good things to remember about when Jesus will come again:
The Bible (see Matt 24:36) tells us that nobody knows the day or the hour that Jesus is coming. So if anyone tells you what day Jesus is going to come, you can know that they are wrong. Jesus said not even the angels know when Jesus will return. Only God knows.
The Bible says that when Jesus comes everyone will know it at once. Nobody will have to say to you, “Here he is.” It will happen very fast like lightening across the sky. So if someone tells you Jesus has come, don’t believe it. You would have found out at the same time. (To learn more, read Matthew 24.)
Father God, keep us close to your heart. Help us to learn from your Bible. Guide us to the parts we can understand best, and help us to keep learning new things. Help us to know when deceivers are trying to teach us wrong things. Help us keep our eyes on you. Help us to know Jesus so well that so nobody else can fool us into believing that they are really Jesus. Amen.
© 2009 by Janice D. Green
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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