One of the primary tools of any magician or pickpocket is to get our attention focused on an object, and then use that object to draw our attention away from what is really happening.

A similar deception happened on occasion over the 2000 years of Christianity. Teachers begin with the message of the good news of Jesus Christ, but then they would focus on some peripheral idea and drift the emphasis away. Pretty soon the doctrine they were teaching did not resemble the Good News of Salvation from the Bible, at all.

Paul writes in Colossians 2:8, “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”

There is an incredible amount of wisdom in the Bible, and we should be regularly reading, studying and meditating on the messages, but at the same time always remembering that the one message that is above all others is, as Paul wrote in Romans 3:22, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.”

Dear Lord, We know that we cannot make ourselves right with you. Our hope and salvation come from confessing our failure, and putting our faith in Jesus Christ, son of God, who takes away our sins and makes us right with God. Help us remember that all other messages should lead us back to this good news. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.