³ But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure^[b] devotion to Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:3 CSB)

We may not really realize the cunning of our enemy. How he works to manipulate everything around us to his ends. We do not think about this because he has seduced us with things that are simply normal in our lives today; technology, distraction, busyness, materialism……and the list goes on and on.

His goal is to keep us distracted from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, as our scripture says, and it is becoming easier by the moment. Our world is in upheaval and America is at odds with itself. It is hard to even watch the news any longer.

He has made foul and debase language the norm. Seduced us with ever more open sexual themes in our music, on TV and in advertising. He has separated us from our moral compass.

Even in many of our churches parts of the Bible are not taught in the name of tolerance.

And I know that I am not alone in seeing these things. If we will but open our eyes to them they are very clear.

What is less clear is a sincere and pure devotion to Christ which we so desperately need.