We’ve all been there. Even guys. C’mon, guys. Admit it. You see something in a store hanging on a hanger and you think, “Ooo. Not bad. I think I’ll try it on.” And then you get into the dressing room, get it on, and well….not so much.

I was enjoying a wonderful day off yesterday and strolling around Short Pump Town Center with my wife. We went into one particular store that I will leave unnamed (J. Crew) and while I was strolling aimlessly among the mannequins, I noticed that they all had something in common. It wasn’t the lack of a face; it was something even more sinister. Every outfit on every mannequin had been pulled tight around the chest and waist and pinned back so that each outfit was form-fitting to each lifeless figure. Rather than just dressing the mannequins and letting the clothes speak for themselves, each mannequin was sporting a row of industrial strength straight pins down their back, bunching up the fabric in the back, but really look good out front.

And as I stood there looking at these mannequins, I was reminded of a spiritual truth.

The allure of a life centered on self is entirely like the way the enemy of our souls dresses things up in order to show us the “flash” while hiding the “trash”. He started in the Garden of Eden and hasn’t stopped since. Working with teens as I do, I could share of countless ones who sadly have succumbed to the temptations of this world, chased after a life that seeks what they can gain, and have consequently ended up a mere shell; not at all living the abundant life God offers and promises to any and all who do things His way; a life that dies to self, and becomes alive to the things, ways, words, and actions of God.

So next time you find yourself among mannequins, and especially if their clothes are pinned back, realize that behind Satan’s “flash” is waiting a huge pile of “trash”.