Deception or Gullibility? Apple or Orange?

Deception can be humorous, no doubt; word play working on our gullibility can be funny.  The comedian, Mr. Bean, reveals how our ears can let us be deceived, if we embrace the deception long enough.  Mr. Bean muses, “If you say gullible very s l o w l y … … it sounds like orange!” 

Apple or orange, which is tastier? Deception or gullibility, who is at blame, or who is at fault?  On whom does the sin rest? A tough question, we can chase rabbits here all day.  No doubt the deceiver, but I have to ask, “What is the heart of the one who ‘bought in’ to the deception?  

 The first story God tells about people addresses just this situation.  When Satan deceived Eve, he said it in a challenge, “Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1).  When the verdict came in, everyone involved, Satan, and both Adam and Eve were guilty – not for being a deceiver, nor for being gullible!  Right in the middle of the deception story, we see the desires of the Deceiver and of the Deceived unite in common desire.  When Lucifer says, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (v 3:5), the fault comes to rest on both.  Because, at the core is “the” sin, disobedience and wanting to rise to God’s equal.  The deception of evil came from Lucifer, the deception was “was pleasing to the eye” by Eve (v6), and Adam, who just went with the crowd, were all placed under the penalty of blasphemy, the curse of death (vv. 13-19).    

The issue isn’t deception or gullibility, apples or oranges.  When a deceiver brings great encouragement to pacify your ego, that’ll entice you to move into pleasures of gratification and self-assurance; at which point, you dive into the ocean of pride.  The same holds true of pride in all nations or cultures, peoples.  Andrew Murray is straightforward, observing a simple notion, “The truth is this: Unless pride dies in you then nothing of heaven can live in you.”   

Tired of my Gullibility, I have to let apples and oranges be what they were created to be - just fruit, 

Owen <><

“If the Lord's people will humble themselves by admitting that deception is quite possible to them, they will be the less deceived.”  ~ Watchman Nee