Wrapped In A Flavored Paper

2 Corinthians 11:14  for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Months had passed since I had tasted alcohol and cigarettes for the first time, and it was the cool thing to continue to smoke when we could, and drink whenever we could, in hopes that we wouldn’t get caught by our parents.  I have to share with you one of the funny things that we would do while we were smoking cigarettes.  One of my friends’ parents smoked, so if he had been smoking it was hard for them to smell it on him.   They would smell of his hand.   He and the rest of us decided to wear a golf glove while we smoked in case any of our parents wanted to smell of our hands.  The things we would do and lies we would tell to continue our mischief.

You know I can remember my Dad saying that he believed anything I would say until I was about 14 years old, well that’s about right. Then the lies and deception began.  Deception raised its ugly head for me walking in our neighborhood one evening. One of my friends had pulled out a joint and started smoking and then he offered me some.  Now you have to understand that I had turned down marijuana several times thinking to myself that I would never use illegal drugs.   I credit the way I was raised to being able to turn it down as many times as I did.  Finally it’s like the enemy knew exactly what to put in front of me so that I would give in to the temptation.

My friend showed me the rolling papers he had used to roll this joint and they were flavored, a flavored rolling paper!  That means the pot will be flavored, right?  I don’t know, all I know is that the fear I had for the pot had subsided and I was ready to give in and smoke it.

You see it had been dressed up nice just like the cigarette commercials that used to be on TV, the beer commercials you see now on TV that has beautiful people having a wonderful time.  It doesn’t show you the person addicted to the alcohol, killing themselves and somebody else on the highway.  It doesn’t show you the thousands of broken homes as a result of something being dressed up to look harmless.   Not only is it harmful but is killing thousands and thousands of people.

So, it began, I finally said yes because it was dressed up in a flavored paper.

It doesn’t matter where you are in your life, if you are a Christian or not, the bible tells us that Satan will come as an angel of light.  If you are someone that is not living for God, the enemy will come at you in the form of a flavored rolling paper. If you are a seasoned Christian, the enemy can come at you in a choir robe. In other words we always need to be on guard with making right decisions because the decisions we make could not only effect that moment but the rest of our lives.

Contentment for Safety

Proverbs 30:8-9

8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is needful for me: 9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and use profanely the name of my God.

There was a time I did not understand the concept of being content in whatever situation may happen in my life.  I know I have not arrived, but I sure am a lot better off than I was prior to knowing that God had a plan for my life.  

The apostle Paul told us that he had learned the art of being content in whatever situation he was in, and that was proven by his life...Philippians 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 

I believe Paul's secret to being content was being convinced that he would spend eternity with Christ.  Before knowing Christ, I can remember chasing after the things of this world only to come up empty every time.  I only got temporary pleasure, whether it was drugs, drinking, or just chasing after what the world had convinced me was fun.  The world’s fun is temporary.

Just imagine if your happiness totally relied on your family, your job, your favorite hobby or even your favorite sports team.  Everything I have listed will fail you at some point but Gods love and His word never fails us.

As a believer if you are walking with God and praying what this scripture states…. Proverbs 30: 8 Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is needful for me and not chasing greedily after the riches of this world then you can be assured what God provides for you is exactly what you need and therefore you are able to remain content.

As we look at verse 9.... Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah? Or lest I be poor, and steal, And use profanely the name of my God.  It needs to be of deep concern and prayer that I remain on the steps that God has planned for me and continually ask God, give me what you want me to have.

You know me better than anybody else,

You know what I can handle,

You know how much wealth will puff me up with pride and forget You, and

You know how little I can handle so that I would not do something illegal and forget You as well.

The word of God tells us in 1 Timothy 6:6 that godliness with contentment is great gain.... I can remember when I first came to Christ and literally had nothing materialistic; it was probably the most content time of my life.  So it is a constant battle as we gain wealth, position, and fame that we pray that God would keep us content and give us exactly what we need.  If we want great gain in our life and be able to walk in constant freedom, we need to remain content where there is safety.