A couple weekends ago, I went to my first baseball game of the year, to see the Manchester Fishercats for the first time ever, at least for me.

The draw wasn't entirely just a baseball game on a surprisingly warm and balmy early April afternoon. No, the tickets were for a "free food" game. That is, all the hotdogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and nachos you can eat. Now note how I say that - as many as you can eat. The treat sounds good, but the "trick" was you had to wait in looooong lines and when you got to the front you got one of these items. If you wanted, say, two hamburgers you had to get back to the end of the line and wait again. So the "can you can eat" part wasn't really limited by your belly but instead by how patient you were and how much of the ballgame you were willing to miss. And frankly, the gray cold non-descript hamburger with cold waxy cheese on it in pasty bread wasn't all that awe inspiring. Nor was the low low low grade undercooked hotdogs on mushy New England bread slice style buns. Bleah.

Now I did enjoy myself, and the game was nice (they won, which is also nice). The park was very attractive. The day was nigh perfect. But if that's the kind of food they always serve at this ballpark, let's just say the Spinners do a whole lot better even when it's raining. I would expect them to tempt me better than that!

And this reminds me of the devil and real temptation. In movies and on TV when the devil tempts someone they always get "cheated". Some silly fool meets the guy in red and thinks he can outsmart him by wishing for something that will one-up the devil, but satan always finds a way to ruin it. Ask for immortality and he gives it to you - along with a life not worth living. Demand all the gold in the world and somehow you end up wishing you never saw an ounce of it. I think Hollywood makes the devil out that way because of the bible - that those who believe they will profit from him find out they lose to him, usually right away. But is it very biblical in general?

Someone gave Baalam the power to curse, and while it might have made him wealthy, famous, and respected it wasn't the devil that ended it. The witch at Endor was likely respected and wealthy as well until Saul, following God's commandments, made her life difficult (and even so, he sought her out in his own desperate turn away from God). Even in the gospel times the "masters" of the foretelling girl made good money, until that Paul guy broke their toy. It seems to me if I were the devil I would give you the best, so you could revel in it and "tell your friends" and advertise for me. It's not until God comes along at the end you feel the hammer, the devil isn't the one that "ruins" your good time. Anyway, who wants to suffer and wait for good stuff when you can have it all right now? Isn't that in a big way what the devil was offering Jesus?

BUT If the baseball park had served delicious hamburgers to go along with a good game and a sunny day, I'd probably be anxious to go again to the small, friendly park. But that is just me, I think. In real life, the devil coaxes us with fun, sun, and freedom while enslaving us with sin, darkness, and lives with AIDS, cancers, poverty, scoffing, ridicule, and confusion. That's because ultimately his best is unhealthy for us. These things "taste" good but the consequences are horrible. Yet instead of learning, many people step right back in line for another serving. Hey, Hollywood got it right! They just don't see themselves in the story (or recognize a bad deal when they get one).

There are free things worth having. Salvation is free. The "cost" of living right, trusting in Jesus, and sacrificing for others is too high for some. But isn't that better than a life groping for meaning and coming up empty, leading to destruction in the end? Maybe these people just can't count costs. Or when you've never tasted a good, juicy, well-cooked hamburger the soft gray cold mystery meat ones are the best you know. OH! That's what was wrong with the food at the game, it was me! I know what "good" tastes like. How about you?

Randy