Just Treats......PLEASE no tricks!

My Trick-or-Treaters for tonight!

Tonight kids will go door to door to door to door to door, saying "Trick or Treat." They will put out their bag, or plastic pumpkin, and expect some kind of candy or snack to drop inside of it. But YET we still say the words Trick or Treat! No kid REALLY wants a trick. They should just go door to door saying TREAT....TREAT....TREAT. I could just imagine the scene if Isaiah and Micah went to their first house and instead of getting candy, someone scared them OR said "Sorry, I don't have a treat, here's a stapler." They wouldn't be happy, they wouldn't laugh. THEN if this continued happening from door to door to door....well then I'd see epic meltdowns from a 2 and 5 year old, followed by a meltdown from their dad....haha.

I think our hopes for our lives are similar to trick-or-treating. We only wish to receive treats. Every day if we had the option to receive a treat or get tricked, we would certainly choose the treat. We only want good things to happen for us. I mean, Don't WE deserve good things for ourselves? But what happens when things don't go well? What happens when something goes wrong, or we get tricked or lied to? Now we feel disappointed and betrayed. What did WE do deserve this bad thing happening to us?


When I was younger, I incorrectly looked at the Bible verse from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and believed God would NEVER give me more than I could handle and that nothing REALLY bad would happen. Here's the verse- ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

That verse doesn't say ANYTHING about what will happen in our overall lives, it just addresses temptation. It's basically saying, no temptation we get will be uncommon to mankind (someone will have already felt that same temptation), and we WILL be tempted, but God will provide us a way out. It doesn't say ANYTHING about life not being hard or that we won't get tricked. 

You want a BETTER verse?....check THIS out from John 16 and what Jesus says, ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jesus Whole speech to his disciples HERE, and it's a GOOD one)

Jesus here is saying- "YEP, sometimes you are going to get tricked. Sometimes this world will knock you down. But don't worry, I've already BEAT this world. You aren't strong enough on your own to beat this trouble but I HAVE." 

We need God to get through this world. Unfortunately it's not going to be all "treats" for us. But don't lose hope. Anything this world can send at us, Jesus has already overcome. Someone else has also already been through what WE are going through. We aren't alone. 

So as you hear the words TRICK OR TREAT tonight, remember; life is going to be filled with a little bit of both. However, we have a God who loves us, ares for us, and will be WITH US through any kind of TRICK or TREAT!