Counterfeit Cheeseburgers

By Robin J. Steinweg –

I served uncooked cheeseburgers to my students. Don’t panic—the bun was two vanilla wafers brushed with light corn syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The meat was a chocolate mint cookie. Red and yellow frosting looked like ketchup and cheese. I added lettuce: green-colored coconut flakes. The burgers turned out a little smaller (and rounder!) than White Castle burgers. If I’d photographed one on a doll’s tea plate, it would’ve looked just like the real thing. But if I were to write up a nutrition chart for it, it would be sadly lacking in the minimum daily requirements for anything at all.

Sure, it would taste good and give me a sugar high, but in the end it would let me down. Hard.

This world offers advice that looks appealing, feels good or has an appearance of truth—but the truth is, it can be as empty as sugar calories. But it looks so real; how can we tell the difference?

If you’ve ever eaten a real cheeseburger, you’d know the moment you saw my candy version that there’s no meat. That’s the trick: get to know the genuine article, and immediately you’ll recognize the fake. And if you’re inexperienced, you’d know it as soon as you tasted it.

Study the Bible and when an untruth pops up, you’ll see it for what it is.

PRAYER: Lord, I ask You to help me to become so familiar with Your voice and Your ways that I recognize instantly anything that is not from You. Thank You.

“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world” (1 John 4:1 NLT).