Every value of the world changes as time passes: in this way, we are always deceived by the world. For example, you might buy a house or a piece of land, thinking that its value will increase. Many years later, the value has actually decreased. You have been deceived by time. Everyone has had a similar experience at least once.
The same applies to fashion. For a while, many people dyed their hair yellow or red because dyed hair was thought to be so beautiful. But, even if they tried to look beautiful, they didn’t really change their appearance. And so it turned out to be useless to dye your hair.
The same applies to being addicted to TV dramas. Once you start watching the drama, you are temporarily happy and excited. It is fun to keep watching it. After finishing all the episodes, the drama lingers in your mind and memory. You want to watch it again. But, if you are wise, you will see that you have been deceived by time. The drama has not been helpful to your soul. You have wasted your time.
People are fooled by the culture of the world, money, civilization and fashion. They don’t even ask, “Why are you cheating me?” They rather fall into it willingly and are cheated while jumping for joy.
While you live in this world, your flesh might enjoy wasting time. But when you stand before the judgement seat of God at the end of your life, how will you feel when you realize that your life has been deceived and wasted, that you have borne no fruit and you are useless? What will happen to your soul if you have not lived any good days on the earth, but have just wasted your time? How bitter and resentful will you feel if your lifestyle causes you to fall into Hell, just like the rich man in Luke 16? And all because of the things that you enjoyed while in the flesh.
We must not be enticed by the things that would deceive us. We must not be enticed by time, money and friends. We must walk by faith by knowing that only God doesn’t fool you. In this way, you can escape being fooled by the world, circumstances and yourself.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #562 (January 27, 2018)
