The Devil Never Shows You The Pig Pen
“…But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:14-15
Back in 1972, Coca-Cola had 18% of the soft drink market. Only four percent of people were drinking Pepsi. So, Pepsi decided to attack its competitor by developing a brilliant marketing plan. It was called the Pepsi Challenge. They would go into supermarkets and malls and conduct blind taste tests between Pepsi and Coke. Surprisingly, in the Pepsi Challenge, the statistics showed that 57% of the people, not knowing what they were choosing, chose Pepsi over Coke.
By 1980, Coke’s market share had dropped to 17%, even though they were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising, while Pepsi had risen to 11%. Panicking, the Coke executives called an emergency meeting and said, “The secret formula for Coca-Cola is no longer working. A new generation has come. They like the smoother and sweeter taste of Pepsi, and we have to do something about it.”
So, the scientists began to tinker with Coca-Cola’s formula. They made it sweeter and smoother. The CEO of Coca-Cola announced, “We’re taking the old Coke down, and we’ve come up with something called the New Coke.” The new Coke failed miserably. The protests from the customers were unbelievable. People were outraged and demanded the old Coke be brought back. The CEO listened, and Coke rocketed back to the top of the market and held its dominance for 30-plus years.
Why is that? During the taste test, people didn’t drink the whole can. They just got a sip, and one sip seemed sweet. But a whole bottle was so sweet that it seemed excessive, and people didn’t like it.
This can also apply to sin. The first sip of sin may seem to taste good, but when you drink the whole bottle, the sweetness of the first sip is quickly lost. It’s easy to be fooled by a sip of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But never measure sin’s pleasure by the sip. You have to take the whole bottle. Sin is never as good as you think it will be. It disappoints every time.
When David first saw Bathsheba bathing- he just took a sip. He didn’t know it would cause him to murder an innocent man to cover it up. He didn’t realize he would impregnate her, and the baby would die. It started out as a delicious sip, but when he got the whole bottle, it became sour.
Sin will wreck your destiny and cause you to lose God’s plan for your life.
The devil shows you the prodigal son’s hotel suite, but he never shows you the pig pen.
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