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Bacon makes everything better. For some, that’s a self-evident truth.
I am not much of a salad eater, but salad with bacon bits is palatable. Jalapeños give me indigestion, but I will digest them if they are wrapped in bacon.
I know not everybody shares my affinity for everything bacon. I understand some may disagree with me . . . but I think they are wrong.
I’ll eat just about anything if it is wrapped in bacon.
And so will our world. One of the biggest traps of the devil is that he wraps his lies in bacon. He wraps his lies in good things.
Let me give you an example. God wants us to love all people. He wants us treat all people with dignity and respect. God wants us to recognize that he has made each one of us unique. We aren’t all the same nor should we be, but God welcomes and accepts all people just as they are. He wants us to have the same attitude.
One of the biggest traps of the devil is that he wraps his lies in bacon. He wraps his lies in good things.
All of that is good. But then the devil whispers to our world, “That means you shouldn’t ever tell anybody that what they think, feel, or do is wrong or unacceptable to God. They are what God made them to be. You should tolerate and accept whatever they choose to be or do. God loves them and accepts them just as they are.”
And our world swallows that because it sounds and tastes good.
But let’s unwrap the bacon for a moment and analyze what’s inside. If we say that we should accept and tolerate whatever anyone feels, thinks, or does because that is the way God made them, how could we ever blame or punish a pedophile or serial killer? They can’t help it. They were born that way. Why would we ever try to teach our kids not to be lazy or racist? If that’s the way God made them, well, we should just accept it.
If what the world is teaching our children is true, then I could say that I am a 6-foot-4-inch talking horse and you would have to treat me as such, feeding my delusion instead of lovingly getting me the help I obviously need.
By wrapping them in the bacon of tolerance and love, the devil is getting us to swallow the craziest of lies.
The truth is that God does love all people. He loves all of us in spite of our sinful nature and choices. Yet his love doesn’t tolerate the sin in us or the sin we do. Instead it led him to send his Son Jesus to suffer his anger in our place for all the ugliness we are and do in our lives.
God never says sin is okay. He tells us that we are all born with a sinful nature (Psalm 51:5). He tells us that not everything we are or feel by nature is good or pleasing to him. But God does accept us and welcomes sinners. His love extends undeserved forgiveness to everyone. In his love, he invites us to repent of our sins and trust his forgiving love.
God’s love doesn’t mean he accepts all behavior but that he forgives the bad behavior because of Jesus. Then we repent and receive that forgiveness.
In the end, that is a truth that tastes even better than bacon.
Author: Andrew Schroer
Volume 109, Number 02
Issue: February 2022
