It was a fake.

Every morning when walking to my car at my apartment complex, I pass by an apartment that makes me smile every time.

This particular unit has an outdoor patio with quaint, white chairs and table. The table holds a vase with yellow flowers on it. The blinds are open, the apartment seems cheery. The curtains are pulled back and each morning, usually before the sun is up, I try to peer in and get a glimpse of the sweet couple I’ve imagined living there. I picture them inside drinking coffee while enjoying the cool breeze of the morning.

I’ve lived in this apartment complex for 6 months and have yet to see the ‘couple’ I’ve dreamed up, but I just knew they were there drinking coffee in the mornings sharing sweet stories with each other.

Yesterday I found out the apartment is the ‘model’ home they show to people who are considering moving into the apartment complex.

My heart fell.

Now, while I don’t blame the devil for making that apartment home look so inviting, isn’t it just like him to do that with other areas of our life? To give us glimpses of things which appear to be perfect? To make us envious of what we do not have for ourselves? To make us think what we have is not enough?

Imagine how stupid I felt when I realized that my imagination had drawn up this whole story and it was all fake? It would have been one thing to find a strange family living there, or a single girl with a dog, or an elderly lady by herself.

But to find out that NO ONE lives there. It’s all a set up. It’s there to entice you. To make you want to live in the apartment complex.

What else do we let entice us? What else looks amazing from the outside but in reality is empty? Marriages? Kids? Jobs? Friendships?

One thing I know. The Gospel is real. In its entirety. It's not to entice us. It's not fake. If you were to 'go inside' you would find that it's not a set-up. Realizing more and more these days that The Gospel is the only thing I need.