Deceit: "Why it feels so good to be just a little bit bad!"

Friends, I rarely ever read magazines. In fact, the last time I actually read a magazine was when I was in the Dr.'s office waiting an hour and a half for my glucose test--and I read purely out of boredom. However, the man who rented our house before us subscribed to like a million magazines and we still get them all. Things like Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Parents, and something like Guns, Guitars and the South (not kidding)...the list just keeps on going.

Every once in a while, I'll flip through these magazines looking for good recipes before I throw the magazine away or give it to Sybil to tear apart in pure joy. Yesterday I picked up "Good Housekeeping" and ran across a short article called, "Why it feels so good to be just a little bad!"

The subtitle says this: "Letting loose can take you to a place of unexpected joy. Try it, and experience the uplifting rewards."

I was intrigued so I turned the page, and what I read next was simply horrifying. Immediately, I knew that for every suggestion they had, there was a Bible verse warning to do the exact opposite. Here are the top 10 things they suggest to do in order to receive more joy (this is verbatim, no exaggeration needed):

1. Gossip
2. Flirt with a man who's not your husband
3. Read erotica
4. Spend the day in your pj's
5. Procrastinate, then tell yourself you're being creative
6. Don't censor yourself (excerpt: "sometimes you just have to toss an F-bomb")
7. Eat two desserts, or have a third cocktail
8. Be gleefully grabby (excerpt: "a little bit of me first-ism can make you giddy")
9. Be selfish in bed (excerpt: "lie there and let your husband do all the work")
10. Get mad and stay mad (excerpt: "instead of adhering to the adage forgive and forget, its sometimes wiser to remember...")

Is this not absolutely disgusting?! This is the kind of crap the world is selling us. Friends, this is absolute deceit. I know most of you reading this will not believe any of these lies, but for anyone out there who reads this and believes that joy will come if you subscribe to any of these suggestions, I am pleading for you to read on. Here are just a few responses to the 10 lies listed above...

--Proverbs 11:28, Proverbs 16:28 "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret."; "A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends."

--Exodus 20:14, Proverbs 6:32, Matthew 5:28 "You shall not commit adultery."; "But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself."; "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

--Proverbs 10:4 "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth."

--Proverbs 23:20-22 "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

--Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

--Ephesians 4:25-27 "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

Friends, this is exactly how sin works: it promises joy by lying to us and leading us away from true joy. The only pure joy to be experienced is found in Christ. "Do no be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds..." (Romans 12:2)