Singular

Deuteronomy 13:1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

     There are so many things that are of value in our world, things worth living for and things worth dying for. With the role of advertising psychology ever increasingly being used in our world to tap into the motivation of consumers, we need to be able to sort through the messages and make good decisions.
     The key is to look beyond the moment, both to the past and to the future, and evaluate the offer based on history and destiny.
    We can read about this kind of "looking beyond the moment" experience in the Scriptures. In Deuteronomy 13 there is a warning about following after foreign gods as the people are preparing to enter the Promised Land.
     The first part of the warning has to deal with the present moment, a false prophet who is able to bring the razzle dazzle of foretelling the future as a way to get the people of God to be distracted. The distract of the present moment pulls us away from the lessons of the past and separates us from the promises of the future.
     There was a calling away from remembering the history the LORD had with His people. "Ignore the miracles associated with the Exodus. Here is a miracle right here. Run after it."
     And there is a glossing over the promises of the future of blessing for the immediate return of the present.
     It can be hard to balance the history of our past and the blessings of the promised future. We can get so wrapped up in the razzle dazzle of the moment that we loose our minds and hearts. So as we walk through this Lenton season, let's keep our eyes focused on the history of faithfulness demonstrated by the LORD and the promise of our future completed redemption. Notice the present, but don't get deceived by it.