We all struggle. We each struggle with different issues depending on our personality, present circumstances and things we have dabbled with in the past, but we are all tempted to sin.
Temptation can be exciting… thinking about how bad I want a decadent piece of chocolate cake only makes the first bite even more gratifying. All I want is the pleasure of that luscious chocolate frosting overwhelming my taste buds with luxurious flavor, even if it’s only for a moment. It looks good and it tastes so good!! But what if I could see what was taking place in my body each time I flooded it with so much sugar and lard. Lard? Yep, that frosting that I love so much is mostly made of lard. What if I could visibly see the way my arteries were being corroded from the trans fats? I’d probably skip the chocolate cake and reach for an apple because I would be face to face with its sickening effects.
Not too long ago I was faced with temptation over the same recurring issue. It looked good. It ‘tasted’ good. And I couldn’t seem to break the cycle. In fact, nothing in me felt like breaking the cycle until I was reminded that the enemy of our souls, Satan, masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Underneath that beautiful facade, lies a hideous beast. All of a sudden I began to think of all of the scary movies I had seen (which were mostly scary parts of cartoons when I was a kid… I don’t do scary very well). I thought of the scariest depiction of a monster that I could. What if that gruesome creature was offering sin to me? I would high tail it the other direction!
Satan is crafty. He is smart. He is patient. He doesn’t come to most of us through things that are dark. I would venture to guess that most of you are not involved in blatant demonic activity. Instead, he waits for the most opportune time to take advantage of our weaknesses and then makes them look like a succulent piece of chocolate cake.
Even an issue like fear, which is easy to cling to because it doesn’t feel like a ‘real’ sin, comes from that hideous beast. For God is not the one who gives us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), and if it didn’t come from God, I don’t want it!
Next time you are faced with temptation, see it for what it is – a lovely piece of lard offered to you on a platter of corroded arteries by the most repulsive creature you’ve ever seen… and he is eager to destroy your soul. Then high tail it in the other direction – and find refute in the arms of God.
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