By Martin
Why is it so easy for us to blame others for our shortcomings? Perhaps we are afraid of assuming responsibility for our own actions. Another possibility is that we are ashamed of what we have done. Therefore, it is easier to displace the blame onto someone else in turn making us feel better. And that is where Satan is able to manipulate our thinking. Because that’s what a marketing scheme is all about. Changing our mind to like something we might not otherwise like or even know about.
Even though we are born into sin, we are all born as children of God. And just like a company trying to gain more customers, Satan is putting forth his best marketing campaign to win our business. He is able to do this by finding our greatest weakness and exploiting it. For men, our greatest weakness is our eyes. Most marketing companies would agree that sex sells; and that is why most marketing campaigns involve attractive looking people.
Satan began his marketing scheme very early in our existence. His first marketing campaign, which had a very captive audience, was about empowerment. Not to say that empowerment is necessarily a bad thing, but it is when it goes directly against God’s commandment. In Genesis 3:1, he said to the woman, Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Satan pushed Eve a little bit further when she tried to resist the temptation. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.” She already wanted to eat of the fruit; Satan just gave her the nudge she needed. He baited her and she took it hook, line, and sinker.
He continues to use the same techniques on each of us. For a person in an unhappy marriage, he could use that to bait us. Perhaps we talk a person of the opposite sex a little too much and a little too often. He is baiting us to grow feelings for that person that we would not have otherwise. And when we take the bait we do exactly what Eve and Adam both did; we blame someone else for our falling into temptation. ‘If my spouse would only…’ fill in the blank. For someone who feels that they are underpaid at their job. Perhaps that person decides to steal from the company and uses the excuse, ‘if they only paid me more’.
Unfortunately, his marketing scheme is working very well. We live in a world that is buying what he is selling in droves. But, we don’t have to buy from him. He is not the only business in the market. There is another who is much greater than Satan. There is one who will be there for us whether we buy from Him or not. Satan only provides empty promises. He will not be there to support us once we buy from him. Just like a mosquito, once he gets what he wants he will move on.
I want to dive into that a little bit here. The mosquito gets what it wants and then leaves. But, is that all the mosquito does? No. Mosquitos often times leaves its victims worse off than prior to the attack. What comes from mosquitos? Malaria, Yellow Fever, and West Nile to name a few. And just like the mosquito, the devil leaves its victims worse off than prior to the attack. What comes from Satan? Insecurity, anger, jealousy, and the list goes on.
Do we want to buy what Satan is selling? If we sit back and think about it, I believe the majority of us would say no. The reality though paints a different picture. More often than not our actions would indicate the answer to be yes. The proof is in the performance. Sure, we will say that we don’t want to buy from him. But, when presented with the option our flesh may say otherwise. We don’t get married to have an affair, but we know that it happens. We don’t get a job so they can steal from the company that they work for, but we know that it happens. We don’t wake up in the morning deciding that we will tell a lie that day, but we know that it happens.
