Addie, who is 3, has been going to a preschool camp this summer and has been part of an enriching and fun program. Theme weeks have given them lots of interesting activities. Western week with ponies brought in for them to ride! Winnie the Poo week with stories, tea parties and a visit from the bear himself. This last week has been Minnie and Mickey Mouse week.
Jayme sent me a picture of Addie and all her little classmates dressed up and wearing Minnie or Mickey Mouse headgear — ears and bows for the girls. And a big Minnie and Mickey Mouse was in the picture with them.
She and Addie were talking about the week at home as they usually do, and she asked Addie if she had an opportunity to meet the famous mouse couple.
“Well,” Addie said looking at her mama intently, “they were heads. They were just heads with people with them.” And she went on with her playing.
Jayme took a minute to sort out what Addie was saying. Addie had quickly figured out the people were in costume heads and outfits to look like the famous characters — but they weren’t the real things.
She was good at figuring out what was the real thing and what wasn’t. She saw the pretend. She understood the idea of a disguise — a false face or head in this instance.
How good are we as adults at discerning the false faces around us; those who would lie and misrepresent who they really are? Are we easily fooled?
When were you fooled by someone? Perhaps someone pretended and wore a false friend face. They may have appeared to have genuine concern for you. After time and experiences, however, you understood they were a false friend.
Maybe someone made you believe they loved you in a romantic manner. They may have gone through the appearance of being a boyfriend or girlfriend. Perhaps they sounded sincere and said all the right words; but over time and through experiences, you discovered they were not genuine. They didn’t really care. They were dishonest.
In our spiritual lives, we need to be aware that there are those who are not genuine and not true believers in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. They may say some right words and right phrases, but they had evil motives. These false people do not have a genuine relationship with Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and want to undermine other people’s faith and weaken or hurt the church.
Matthew 7:15 tells us, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Wow! Pretty clear what to watch out for and what kind of people they are!
I John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Pray for discernment and keep a vigilant watch out for spiritual pretenders!
