Don't be Fooled

In perhaps one of the most epic April Fool’s hoaxes of the modern day, thousands of Brits were duped into believing that Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti harvest. During the April 1, 1957 edition of the BBC’s news show Panorama, the revered and trusted anchor, Richard Dimbleby, discussed how the current year’s spaghetti crop was unusually successful due to the mild winter and “the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.” His comments were accompanied by footage showing a Swiss family harvesting pasta from a spaghetti tree and placing it into baskets. When hundreds of viewers phoned the station to learn how they could grow their own spaghetti tree, the BBC answered, “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

As humorous as this and many other examples of April Fool’s hoaxes can be, certainly no one in their right mind relishes the opportunity to be deceived. Few people wake up in the morning and top their to-do list with the intentional pursuit and belief of that which they know not to be true. Yet deception still happens, and with alarming prevalence. Such is the nature of deceit: that which is false poses as that which is desired to be true. Then the human heart, being deceitful, desperately wicked, and never known for its objectivity, bridges over any gaps in consistency and deception, as we understand it, quietly and often unknowingly takes root.

During my morning prayers recently, I have found myself earnestly seeking for deliverance from deception. I am not thinking of any specific vulnerabilities, but I can relate to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:3: perhaps the serpent, who deceived Eve in his craftiness, could lead some of us astray from that which we’ve come to know as true. Of course, this would be terrible, but to ignore or deny the risk is to put too much faith in our own ability to avoid that which, in our human weakness, we are not always able to identify.

So what are we to do? I believe Paul gives us an indication, by identifying that from which the serpent attempts to leads us astray: the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength does not need to be all that complicated and neither should it be compromised with pursuits of supposedly equal importance. This “main thing” only becomes complicated when we want it to include something we know it shouldn’t; therein lies the trap door to deception.

Personally, my rule of thumb is to seek alignment with three short phrases taken from the Scriptures. The first two come from Psalm 24:4: Do I have clean hands, and a pure heart? In other words, is my conscience clear, and are my motives unimpeachable? The third is found in 1 Timothy 1:5: Is my faith sincere? Am I believing God, without any allowances for doubt, that He will perform what is best? I believe that our safe harbor from the threats of deception lies in maintaining, by the grace of God, clean hands, a pure heart, and sincere faith. I trust that each of us will find such things to be true in our experience – and therefore, also, the absence of deception – by keeping to such simple, pure devotion to Christ.