The Oldest Trick in the Book

How many of you have ever eaten Cracker Jacks? Cracker Jacks have been around for a long time. I used to eat them when I was a boy so you know they have been around for a long time. Do you think I ate Cracker Jacks because I liked them? Well, the taste pretty good, but that isn't why I ate them. I ate them because of what it says right here on the box. "A prize inside!" I wanted that prize! You know, after I got the prize, I was always disappointed because the prize was some cheap little toy that wasn't worth anything. You could say, the prize wasn't what it was "cracked up to be!" But I kept on buying those Cracker Jacks and hoping that some day I would get a really great prize. I never did.

I wonder if the prizes are any better now than they were when I was a boy? Let's open this box and see. I may have to have some of you help me eat some of these Cracker Jacks so I can get to that prize. Look at that prize! Why, it is just a little piece of paper. What a disappointment. I can't believe that after all these years people are still falling for that trick.

I don't guess I should be surprised. After all, it is the oldest trick in the Book. It is the same trick that Satan used on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan went to Eve and said to her, "If you will eat of that tree over there, you will be like God. You will be as wise as He is." So, Eve ate the fruit and gave some to Adam, and it sure wasn't like Satan promised. In fact, they lost their place in that beautiful garden. That is one of Satan's very best tricks and he still uses it today. He will promise us great things if we will just do what he wants us to do, but the prize is never what he promised. In fact, it may just end up costing us our place in God's kingdom.

Dear Lord, help us to remember that Satan will use every trick he knows to get us to do what he wants us to do. Help us to remember that nothing he promises can compare to what we have in You. Amen.