Beware of Imitations

Recently I set up a Paypal account for work so that we could collect transactions for online registration for our various meetings. As the Paypal administrator, all Paypal-related emails come directly to me.

Occasionally I'll get email that appears to be from Paypal, but in fact it is from someone else imitating Paypal. In some cases, the differences between the faker and the real deal are quite obvious. In other cases, however, you have to look and read pretty carefully to distinguish whether the email is authentic or a hoax.

Satan operates in much the same manner. He doesn't usually try to hook us with blatant sin (although he's had success in that area). Rather, he focuses on being an imitation of God, plying us with promises and possessions that seem to be good but that are actually evil in disguise.

As if there weren't already a zillion reasons why we should stay in the Word on a daily basis, here's another one: to help us discern real life that we have in Christ from the imitation life that Satan offers.