“This does not look like the burger that’s on the menu,” I told Lynne as the server brought out our order. The menu photo showed a large, juicy burger with thick tomato slices, crisp fresh lettuce, and melted cheese dripping down the sides. My burger bore no resemblance to the menu item.

It is a fact that many of the things we purchase fail to deliver the promised benefit. They “overpromise and underdeliver” the desired outcome. Sin is like that too. The author of Hebrews, speaking about Moses in the “Hall of Faith,” states he chose to suffer affliction with the children of God rather than to enjoy “the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:25, ESV)

The appeal of sin comes in many forms. We find this with the first encounter of sin in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, we see the serpent coming to Eve, convincing her that God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was “misinformation,” to use a current catchphrase. Scripture goes on to say, “When the woman saw that tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

We all know how that ended. Their eyes were opened, they saw their nakedness, and they tried to cover it up as if they could fool God.

Satan’s tactics have not changed in the intervening millennia. He still uses the same bait-and-switch tactics he used on Eve. Satan is the prince of this world, and the Apostle John gives us this warning about worldly pleasures: “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. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16)

Compare Eve’s experience with these warnings. Eve saw the tree was good for food — the desires of the eyes and the desires of the flesh. And the tree was desired to make one wise — the pride of life.

Watch any commercial and you’ll see the same enticements to “take a bite” of the world’s values. Ask Eve how it worked out for her after biting the fruit of the tree. Ask King David how it worked out for him after seeing Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop. The God Who created us also provided an owner’s manual (Bible) on the proper maintenance of our relationship with Him.

We should always be swimming upstream in the downstream flow of this world’s current. Once again, the Apostle John tells us why we are to do this: “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God [refer to the owner’s manual] abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)

The world will always overpromise, and it will always underdeliver. God has provided us with Scripture to give us wisdom for living in this world. In Proverbs 1:2-3, we read this instruction on wisdom (which is doing the right thing at the right time in the right way): “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity.”

In the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” they are searching for the Holy Grail (a mythical cup used by Christ at the Last Supper). The villain chose a cup of gold and jewels using worldly values. He died a violent death. The Templar Knight responded, “He chose poorly.” Jones chose a simple cup based on the humility of the Savior to save his father. The Templar Knight replied, “You have chosen wisely.”

God’s desire is that we, when making life’s choices, would “choose wisely.”

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!