What the culture presents to Christians as treasure is, in truth, only so much trash, rubbish, and garbage. The Apostle Paul clearly understood this, confessing: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:7–8).  Ultimately, it is our hearts that our artificial culture is after.

The word artificial has been defined as describing something that is not natural or real. The irony of that definition, however, is that in a world wherein believers in Jesus Christ are to live as sojourners and exiles (1 Peter 2:11), we are daily confronted with temptations and allurements that are in fact very tangible and real. That reality is solemnly expressed in a Puritan prayer from The Valley of Vision, titled “Faith and the World”:

O Lord, the world is artful to entrap,
approaches in fascinating guise,
extends many a golden bait,
presents many a charming face.

Those sobering words should serve as a reminder to every believer in Christ that the culture in which we live is not static but dynamic. This sinful world, which lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19), has an identity, a personality, if you will, whose “fascinating guise” and “charming face” are reflected in the ungodly tenets, mores, and precepts by which it operates. Ultimately, the goal of employing such false and contrived devices (Eccl. 7:29) is to entice Christians to exchange authentic Christianity for an artificial counterfeit.

Lamentably, many professing believers succumb to such shallow enticements, choosing instead to gratify their flesh rather than obey God. An example from Scripture is that of Demas, who became so enamored of the world that he deserted the Apostle Paul in carrying out the work of the gospel (2 Tim. 4:10). But notwithstanding Demas’ disheartening about-face, the questions that you and I must consider are these: What about us? Are we any better than Demas?

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