2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

After taking a year hiatus from leading small group women's Bible study at my church, I am coming back in the Fall to facilitate Beth Moore's new Children of the Days study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Honestly I couldn't remember off the top of my head anything about these books so I took a peak to see what we were in for.

For some reason, out of all of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, these verses stuck out at me...

"The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

It is scary to me how conniving and manipulative and deceptive the devil is. I know we like to think that we are safe from all of that as believers, but think how easily it is to get sucked into what becomes acceptable in our culture. It is a slow process. Yeast doing its work. Small and slowly working its way into something bigger.

What will we think of the amazing miracles and signs and apparent wonders? Will we be so easily swayed ourselves? Back in Jesus's time the religious leaders took great pains to memorize scripture, live in a strict manner, follow all sorts of rules and regulations made by them. But when Jesus came -- the Messiah they had been waiting and watching for -- they rejected him. They were so set in their views of what it would look like that they didn't believe, and worse, that they used fraud with their religious laws as a basis to put him to death.

What if we are the same when Jesus returns and instead believe the lies of the devil rather than the returning Christ, based on our preconceived notions and cultural beliefs? At first pass we make think, no way! But the devil is very tricky and we should be careful to be so confident like the Jews in Jesus's day.

On the flip side, what if we become so paranoid about being deceived by the devil and his signs, wonders, miracles that we miss the true signs, wonder and miracles of Jesus because we reject everything, including the Jesus himself.

God, help us stay so in tuned with You that we can recognize and discern Your truth.