Have you ever been talking to someone about something and then you get on your phone and there is an ad for the very thing you were just talking about? Have you ever looked something up online and then the next time you got on your phone there was an ad for it? Advertisers are very good at writing algorithms to put in front of your eyes something that they know will interest you, in an effort to get your attention and, more importantly, to get your business.
A brother in Christ pointed out that long before online algorithms ever existed the devil was already in that business. From the beginning, he has been putting things in front of our eyes that are tempting to us, in order to get our attention and, most devastatingly, to get our business. His “craftiness” (2 Cor. 11:3), “schemes” (Eph. 6:11) and “devices” (2 Cor. 2:11) are his clickbait. Paul called him, “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2)—the original prince of the airwaves.
The key to beating him is the same as beating online ads—resist and don’t click (Jas. 4:7)!