2 Corinthians 11:3
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Me and snakes are not compatible. Don’t get me wrong; we get along fine and I highly respect their right to be where they are as long as they respect my right to not be where they are. I am very conservative when it comes to worship. But you let one of those critters get under my feet and you’ll see me dancing in the spirit, only, in the spirit of fear.
There came a day in mid-spring when the cat we had at the time kept going to the front door of our house. Now I need to explain that technically it was the front door, but because there was no walkway leading to it from the driveway, we seldom used it. There was a huge gap between the threshold and the storm door probably measuring close to an inch. Because of it during the winter time, it allowed a lot of cold air to circulate that door. So, my wife took an old rug and stuffed it in the gap in between the storm door and the main door. It stopped a lot of air. We didn’t think much about it all winter, but when spring came then our cat began spending time staring at the door and sometimes hunkering down like she was looking for something.
One day, when my wife and I were away, our teenage daughter and her cousin were staying at the house by themselves. The cat suddenly began meowing and growling at the door. Being curious teenagers, they opened the door to see what all the fuss was about, and right there between the doors laid a snake that was probably eighteen inches in length but might as well have been forty feet long. They quickly slammed the door back shut and promptly called the neighbor to come and help them. They didn’t call us because this was in the days when not everyone carried a cell phone – only the rich and famous or would be famous and deeply in debt. She came over and managed to make the snake leave through the gap (thank God it went that way. Had it gotten into the house I would have been forced to move – immediately).
But a day or two later the cat was right back at the door. I knew what had happened. It had come back. Most likely it had been there all winter hibernating until spring came. It was now home for the serpent. I knew it was going to be up to fearless Dad (yeah, right) to get rid of the critter once and for all. But how without passing out in fear myself? Then it hit me. I had a pair of channel locks that was about a foot in length. I thought I could grab the rug with the channel locks and pull it out from the outside through the gap. And I did. But when I did the snake came out with it. I intended to kill the snake but it quickly crawled away and vanished before I could. Okay, at least it was gone. Now to fix that gap to keep it from coming back again. Since we seldom used that door, I thought of stuffing Styrofoam in the gap until we could come up with a better solution. I had just the thing in the garage and went to retrieve it. When I returned that onery creature was in the process of crawling up the steps to once again return to its lair. When I showed up it quickly took off again. I stuffed the Styrofoam in making sure to not leave any openings and if the snake did try to get in again, it couldn’t, and finally gave up. From then on, we put a rug on the inside of the house against the main door. No more snakes at the front door!
Now I told this long story for a reason. In the truest context of 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church because there were even then in his day those preaching and teaching false doctrine about Christianity. They wanted to complicate the Gospel with rigid requirements from Judaism with their strict laws, putting stipulations on salvation. But Paul told them to not be deceived (in so many words) into believing anything but the simplicity of the true Gospel.
Since Genesis, the snake has been a representative of evil because the devil took the form of a serpent when he deceived Adam and Eve. So, a snake at the front door is anything or anyone who would try to deceive you in your Christian experience, not by sneaking in another way, but flaunting it right in your face – coming in right through the front door. They show up seemingly innocent, right at the front door, not attempting to conceal what they are doing but craftily disguising it as truth. If we don’t recognize what is happening, they will be successful in making us believe a doctrine that may be leading us away from our Lord. If we let our guard down and are not careful, we will just open the front door and let them in.
Those of us who have been around for several years can quickly attest to the fact that the morals of today have declined at an alarming rate, and we now see things accepted by and happening in the church that are completely contrary to the Bible. But they are accepted as fact because they are normal now. They may be normal but that doesn’t change what the Bible says. They may change what the pastor says, or what the denomination says, but not what the Word of God says.
Many congregations today have also traded an atmosphere of true worship for one of entertainment with flashing lights and smoking stages. Lights and smoke are not wrong in themselves, but if they are meant to impress people and work on the emotions of people then this is not worship but entertainment. Much of what is called worship today has nothing to do with worship. True worship takes place when the heart of man is truly touched by the heart of God. Many things can put us in an attitude of worshipping God but make no mistake, they do not replace the worship of God.
I am not promoting old-fashioned ways, or that we should not try to reach people where they are in life. There are many examples in the scripture where Paul did that. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:33 “Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Paul was saying that he used every tool he could think of that was Biblically correct to win souls for Christ. But not at the expense of the pure and simple Gospel. In the same light, the church today must win souls. We can use many tools. But we must always remember that the tools are not as important as the message.
This is just one of many examples of how the devil is trying to hook his claws into the very message of salvation to deceive people into thinking they are saved. Only by the blood of Jesus applied to our hearts and lives, can we be saved. That is done simply and not with complicated rules and regulations. But we also must be careful not to promote what would compromise God’s word. Don’t let that snake sneak through the front door. Keep him out of our worship, our lives, and our homes.
. . . Praise the Lord . . .
Jerry D. Ousley is the author of The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Visit his website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.
