The Dangling Keys

Africa Christmas Update: 4 men’s gifts—$840—84 kids—233 left.

A few months ago I made a new friend named Tim Mahoney, a filmmaker based in Minneapolis. His project called Patterns of Evidence is amazing, making him the first person to reconcile archeology to the Biblical timeline by CSI-style investigation. … Well, also using HSL investigation (Holy Spirit Led).

Tim shared with me the analogy of how Satan often distracts us from God and lures us into moving in the wrong direction with “dangling keys.” As we talked, this thought developed.

We’ve all experienced at some point being in the room when a parent is trying to get a child to walk toward them for the first time. Dad or mom kneels a few feet away and lovingly encourages the child to walk into their arms. But there are times when someone else will be a few feet over, holding a set of dangling keys or other shiny object, trying to entice the child as well. The keys are used as a bigger distraction—and often something the parent may not want the child to have—because something has to be used to trump the relationship of the parent.

Sometimes the child goes for the relationship and moves toward the parent, while other times he/she goes for the dangling keys.

In our daily walk, our Heavenly Father encourages us to walk His way, solely from the relationship. But Satan stands a few feet away, with no relationship, only desiring to lure us away from whatever the Father has for us. He grabs whatever “dangling keys” he thinks will work on us on a particular day. Some days we walk toward the Father and others we go for the shiny “keys”—like the child, something the Father had prefer us not have, whether now, or just yet. Because the “keys” aren’t always evil, sometimes they’re just not the best for us at the time.

So, in every season of life, the “dangling keys” may be somewhat different. If one set doesn’t work for a while, he’ll grab a new set, a little shinier than before.

Each day—it’s up to us to go for the King or go for the keys.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. —Hebrews 12:2 NLT

I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible. —1 Corinthians 7:35 NLT