[Before I begin this podcast I want to let you know that starting next week I’m going to be publishing podcasts only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.]
In James 1:14-16 we read, “Each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.”
Every temptation has something real in it. It is not entirely a lie. Think of a trap with bait in it such as a chunk of meat. Is the meat real? Would it give some satisfying pleasure, some measure of freedom from hunger to the animal that would consume it? Sure it would. But then down comes the trap door, and the animal’s whole life is altered. The freedom it had — even though it was hungry — is now gone. There’s no going back. Fear, misery, and perhaps even death awaits.
So what our imagination serves up in terms of pleasures, delights, satisfaction, and eagerly getting something we especially want, is real. That’s what makes it attractive. And for the time being, we will get these things. We will feel the satisfaction we were after. But then down comes the trap door and with it tormenting regret that strikes immediately or in time. And with that comes a heap of different kinds fears and troubles we never anticipated.
Can God redeem the mess we make in caving into deception? For sure. Redemption means that from those ashes something unbelievably good can be brought forth, but the truth is, the loss is real. Something precious is truly gone and cannot be reclaimed. There’s no going back. Other doors of healing, learning, and blessings will be opened to us, but the doors we closed behind us can and never will be reopened.
Hence we must be steady at our prayers for ourselves and one another to never give that little chunk of meat in the middle of that odd-looking box a second thought or let our imagination work on it. Why? Because of this spiritual law: the more we think of something we find desirable the more our desire for it will grow. And alongside that growing desire, more and more reasons will pop into our minds as to why that little chunk of meat would be so satisfying. (Many of those thought-suggestions will come from the evil one who by this time is onto what it is we’re thinking of doing).
As someone put it: “Better by far to shun the bait than to struggle in the snare.”
