Potato Chip Relationship

“Unscrupulous con men will continue to exploit the faith. They're as deceived as the people they lead astray. As long as they are out there, things can only get worse.” (2 Timothy 3:13 MSG)

Potato chips are fun to eat; it’s hard to eat just one. The snack food industry, after much research and engineering, has figured out the ‘bliss point’--the amount of salt, sugar, and fat to add to processed food to make us keep eating what they are selling. Potato chips come in many flavors: sour cream, bbq,  cheddar, salt and vinegar, lime. No matter what they are covered in, we all know that they are still unhealthy. Anyone who counts a potato chip as a serving of vegetables is in denial.

Every day, we meet people who are similar to potato chips. Initially, they are fun to be around--they say what we want to hear, laugh at our jokes, and lull us into complacency. Eventually, they figure out our weaknesses and exploit them. They calculate our ‘bliss point’--just how much attention, flattery, sympathy, gifts, time, diversions, secrets, gossip, etc., it will take for us to buy into their schemes. These con men/women come in different flavors, but if you look closely, they all have similar characteristics. They are usually good-looking, confident, charming, and skilled at reading people. They take advantage of our natural inclination to be friendly, kind, and trusting. Since it’s difficult to continually scam the same people over and over, con artists tend to travel and move a lot. They reinvent new identities as needed, depending on their victims. Not all con men/women are seeking monetary gain; they can be after other resources--a place to stay, career advancement, favors, entertainment, or someone to take care of their needs and responsibilities. They often cultivate relationships to latch on to those with credibility, to restore their reputation, to spite their foes, or to just prove that they can. Even if they don’t rip us off, they can still have fun just toying with us.

Deceivers often lie to themselves as well as to those they lead astray. They imagine that they are turning over a new leaf when they reinvent themselves. Yet, their patterns of behavior do not change. They try to convince others they are just flawed humans--but decent underneath it all. This is like equating a potato chip with a vegetable since it came from a plant. All lies have some truth in them; otherwise they would be unconvincing. Those who accept these deceptions are delusional; those who remain complicit and knowingly allow these lies to be perpetuated are accessories to the deceit.