“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”  II Corinthians 11:3

How easily we fall prey to the lies of “the serpent,” or Satan.  One of the ways that I can see God sanctifying me is through the gradual weaning from a desire to attain attention and praise from others and a gradual focusing on applying biblical truth to my life. 

I think that one of the ways that we fall prey to the worldly lies we hear is in our lack of follow-through on what we hear at church and in fellowship with other believers.  It is something that has plagued me for years and only now is being destroyed in my own life.  It is easy to hear words spoken in a message for our edification.  It is slightly more difficult to actually HEAR those words and understand what that means in our own lives at the time of hearing the message and in subsequent moments, and it often seems altogether impossible to faithfully apply those words to our day to day lives.

I know this is not a comprehensive exegesis of this verse, but it is something that was immediately on my heart as I read it.  It is one of the many ways that we can be deceived.  Deceived into thinking that as long as we hear the words, we are set.  But the true knowledge we gain invariably results in some sort of application in our lives.  God sanctifies us through the testing of our hearts.  I know He is currently doing that in my life. 

What a beautiful statement for us though, how simple and pure life can be when we are devoted to Christ.