Scammed into Living for Less - Part II

So far, we’ve covered the scam that is spending our time working unto money. That’s not the only slight of hand the enemy pulls on us, though— let’s dive into the next one.

Trick #2:

#FakeLove

God is the originator of love. He is love (1 John 4:16).

The enemy strives to make sure we never thoroughly encounter God & understand just who our Heavenly Father is. He starts by deterring us from placing our entire trust in God’s Word.

Because we never personally embrace the true essence of His character (real love), we can only practice fake love.

I’ll tell you from experience: learning God's character firsthand shifts your entire character and the way you love others — and the enemy knows that. Convincing us that we already “love and talk to God enough” is his greatest tactic to prevent this. 

His second greatest tactic for getting us to choose fake love?

Inundating us with worldly images so we’ll never know how beautiful relationships are when they come from God. He particularly does this with romantic relationships.

The enemy plants self-seeking, perverted ideas about romantic love for us to ingest day in & day out.

We see these perpetuated on Michelle Obama’s internet everywhere we turn. Just look at any relationship-related meme, tweet, or shared mindset. Even all those TV shows based solely on men rejecting women and denying their own children (Maury and Jerry, I'm looking at you)... Yeah, that's all part of the plan. 

The enemy is diligent in teaching us to normalize infidelity, casual sex, toxic partners, and unfulfilling marriages. The byproduct is we end up praising what’s actually just a slightly "better" version of the bare minimum.

Prime example?

Satan works tirelessly to convince us that most men will cheat. It, then, becomes natural for women to meet a man who’s funny, fine, plus successful, and think he’s the perfect catch as long as he’s “faithful.” Because of the enemy’s hard work, most ladies won’t realize that it’s actually still a settle— for if that man has not truly encountered God for who He is, he will not be capable of providing real love.

First, our opponent blocks our view of God’s real love. Then, he swarms us with imagery that misconstrues what love is.

He makes sure the culture says “follow your heart,” so we happily settle for shallow interest that is really based on temporary feelings/selfish desire.

Love God’s way entails far more than just feelings & desire; it is beautiful and purposeful in building God’s kingdom. It is God's will that we recognize and move away from the false image of love that the enemy presents to the world, and that we instead choose to embrace the kind of love He showed to us through Jesus: true, selfless, sacrificial love that allows us to build one another up.