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Mere Mirage
In the semi-arid country of West Texas on a typical summer afternoon when the sun bathes the plains with sunshine, you can see for miles and miles. The prairies stretch out like a huge carpet toward the distant horizon. Even to the most unimaginative mind, the lake-like mirage is often clearly visible in the distance, shimmering like a rare jewel which has been carefully placed to ingratiate the scene. The mirage is so clearly “seen” it has often been “fool’s gold” for the thirsty traveler, as well as the motive for the thirsty one to take one more step forward because of the “cool, clear water,” he “sees.”
The mirage is an optical illusion. Atmospheric conditions become such as will reflect the sun’s rays against the land so that a lake of water “appears,” which is not a lake of water at all. Mirages have fooled many people and it is believed that those lost in the desert have actually been driven to insanity because of these false illusions.
The devil is an expert in the art of the optical illusion. He can make people put their complete confidence in a mirage, something that is not really there. In doing so, he can cause bedazzled people to spend a lifetime running after what is not actually there. There can be no doubt that these people see something, but it is merely an illusion and when that person arrives at what he thought he saw, he will find it was merely a cleverly placed deception.
For instance, the thought that peace can come from the accumulations of this world’s goods is a mere mirage. Riches hold out the promise of security but when you put your trust in them, you’re being deceived by something that’s not there. Riches may look like the means for peace and happiness, but that promise is a mere illusion, a trick devised by the devil to keep us from putting our confidence in the promises of God for peace and security. Trust in uncertain riches is like putting confidence in a distant mirage–it will never satisfy. “Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Proverbs 11:4).
People who feel they have been wronged by another oftentimes become bent on revenge. They have the notion that if they can just avenge their injury in some way they will be happy again. But there is no satisfaction in revenge. There is no true joy in retaliation. It’s a mere mirage. One who believes such is seriously deluded–he is seeing a mirage. It is not ours to avenge. “Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans 12:19). Many a person has ended up frustrated and embittered after thinking he could bring about some satisfaction by “getting even.”
Another mere mirage. The modern, fun-loving crowd would have us subscribe to a kind of playboy philosophy which, according to them, is the antecedent to what they refer to as “the good life.” “Live it up!” they say, “you only go around once!” They seem to have the notion that a life of fun is a life well-lived. It’s a delusion, folks. Fun and frolic is not what life is all about-- living to top last night’s fun is a delusion, a mere mirage–it’s not really there.
No person can find real pleasure–lasting pleasure–by merely surrendering himself to his own lusts and passions, for there is no end to it. One excitement must be continually replaced by another, a greater one. The last adventure can’t ever satisfy tonight’s need. The word of God is constantly “teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world...”(Titus 2:10-11). There is no lasting pleasure in our living life without restraints and with reckless abandon. To think otherwise is an illusion.
Why in the name of common logic would we dare place our hopes, our desires, our aspirations, not to mention our confidence, in this world and its offerings when it is plain to see that “the world passes away with the lusts thereof” (I John 2:15)? How do we think we can find any substance in a life that is regulated by carnality while we ignore what is spiritual, what is revealed in truth about our duties, privileges, even our happiness in this life? Let us not be deluded–“all that glitters is not gold.”
We need to remember that we should“be not deceived, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7), and that the devil “walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” ((I Peter 5:8). Don’t be deceived by what you think you see–it may not be real.
