n my walk through life, I have noticed one thing: Human reasoning is faulty and can get us into a lot of trouble.

One day, decades ago, as I was walking in the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo, New York, I spied a juice extractor. Now I am a long-time fan of freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, and I had been keeping my eye open for such a discovery. One problem however: It was over $80.00! Now our means in those days were meager, and we had to be extremely careful how we spent our money. The price of this attractive machine was way out of our budget. I would simply have to dismiss it entirely.

For a few minutes, that is.

For some reason, that juice extractor kept popping back into my mind, and I soon found myself drooling after a cup of freshly squeezed carrot juice with ginger. I began reasoning with my wife: “Imagine all the delicious juice we could make with such a dream machine! I could drink my ginger root, carrot juice every day! How healthy it would be for us…”

My wife would patiently listen to me and point out some of the machine’s weakness that I was neglecting to consider. Like how hard it would be to clean, for example, and how it would put a strain on our food budget.

I had a logical explanation for each of her objections, but for some reason, she hadn’t fallen in love with this particular machine the same way I had. Maybe it was because she didn’t particularly like fresh carrot juice . . . Yes, that must have been it! She was thinking only of herself. And that wasn’t fair!

A few days later I found myself crossing the Canadian/US border with the necessary amount of money (taxes included) to purchase this “dream” machine. As I placed my newly acquired purchase in the trunk of my car, I tried to ignore the nagging feeling that arose in my chest. Instead, I turned my concentration to how to get this particular trophy into Canada without having to pay duty. (Isn’t it interesting just how far our reasoning can lead us down the path of lies and deception?)

As soon as I arrived home, I proudly unpacked my juice extractor and set it on the counter. “What a beautiful machine!” I concluded. I then proceeded to make my first cup of juice. Ummm!!! I did notice that it took a lot of carrots to make one small cup of carrot juice . . . Kind of a waste of money . . . But I quickly dismissed the thought. It was well worth it!

I didn’t bother cleaning up the machine. I was sure it could easily be done later. Funny how my wife often has other ideas! In the end, I did clean it up, and what a mess!

Between the mess it made and the amount of vegetables it needed to make just a little cup of juice, it soon became apparent that my prize was really worthless, and my $80.00 dream machine proceeded to live out the rest of its life as a counter-top decoration.

Notice how my reasoning led me to become self absorbed over a piece of junk. I had to have that juicer or else. My reasoning had made complete sense to me at that time, but in the end, it led to lies and financial difficulties. In summary it led me to sin!

When I look back to the Garden of Eden, I notice that Eve’s reasoning was also at the core of her disobedience to God: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” (Gen 3:2-3 NIV)

God never said that touching the fruit would lead to death (see Gen 2:17). Her reasoning led her to the awareness that “the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom…” NIV (Gen 3:6). Her logic made sense to her and before she knew it, she disobeyed God.

If you pay attention, you will notice that this kind of faulty reasoning is behind every sin mentioned in God’s Word, as well as every sin occurring in our own lives.

“Why not? Everybody does it?”

“What is the harm? I can try it. I can always say no afterwards.”

“It looks so good. God would not withhold anything that good from me!”

Notice the devil’s reasoning behind every attempt to tempt Jesus while in the wilderness. First try: “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matt 4:2-3 NIV) Doesn’t it make sense to turn these stones into bread? We all know that Jesus is the Son of God and He is hungry. What is the harm in getting food in this way?

Second try: “‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'” (Matt 4:6 NIV) Here the devil even quotes the Bible. Why not prove to Jesus that God’s Word is true? There is no harm in using everything at our disposal to prove that the Bible is indeed factual, or is there?

Third attempt: “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.'” (Matt 4:8-9 NIV) Wouldn’t that be tempting if we were in Jesus’ shoes? All of a sudden Jesus does not need to die for the lost humanity. He can get possession of this whole world by just bowing down. No harm in that is there, especially if we can escape a horrible death!

Notice though, that Jesus said “no” to every attempt at such reasoning by constantly quoting God’s will through God’s Word. The Bible was His treasure for resisting all sorts of human devilish reasoning that could lead to deceptive actions.

One day a Canadian was stopped by a state trooper. When he discovered he was accused of speeding, he vehemently protested: “This is nonsense. I was watching my speedometer the entire time. I was barely one mile above the indicated speed limit.”

“Sir that is breaking the law.”

We may reason our way out of every sinful situation, but in all reality we are breaking God’s law. No reasoning can justify this. Our faulty, attractive and destructive reasoning is far from being God’s Word. With such reasoning we are heading towards the dangerous grounds of self-deception. Reality is: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom 3:23 NIV)

It’s time we put our faulty logic aside and start concentrating on what is true and honorable. One can only be saved “through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” NIV ( Rom 3:24); and “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” (Phil 4:8 NIV)

Out with faulty reasoning, in with depending on the One who truly loves us and whose logic is far superior to ours!

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” (Isa 55:8 NIV)

What is your choice?