Temptation Can Come In An Attractive Package

                                             When The Door Slams

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the messiah is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in  God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.                                                                                            Colossians 3:1-4 HCSB   

            Just...thinking about religion is not the same as making a Christian impact on our culture. Pollsters tell us that fifty million Americans say they are born again. No doubt about it, religion is up. But so are practices unremittingly opposed to the truth of Christianity: one out of every two marriages is shattered by divorce; one of three pregnancies ends in abortion. Homosexuality is no longer considered deviant or depraved behavior; it is an alternative lifestyle.

            Politicians and religious leaders said they will make American great again, but crime continues to soar: in "Christian" America there are two hundred times more burglaries than in "pagan" Japan...If there are so many Christians in the U.S., why we are not affecting our world?  

            I believe it is because Christianity has begun to lose its punch over the past forty to fifty years; it is that more and more Christians (it seems to me) now opt for a lower standard when confronted with choice of living in moral purity as set forth in the Scriptures or compromising (then rationalizing away the guilt). Well, just look around. You decide. 

            The battle of choices is certainly not new..."Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please" (Galatians 5:17). 

            Think about this: Some things that appear quite harmless can entangle and hurt us. Most of us know what it is like to get involved innocently in a relationship or a pastime only to eventually find that we were caught up in something hurtful from which we could not break away. Temptation can come in an attractive package. 

            This statement perfectly describes the tempter. Sometimes people have the mistaken idea that Satan wants to give weak minded people pleasure. Satan no more wants to give us pleasure than a foolish person wants to grow in wisdom. Satan hates us and wants to inflict as much suffering into our lives as he possibly can. Satan offers the pleasure of sin only to inflict suffering later and to make that suffering permanent.

            In many ways, that is what temptation does to us. The more the enemy of our souls tries to yank away our faith, the tighter we squeeze it to our heart. God allows temptation so that we will cling more fiercely to Him. 

            Related Bible Texts: Pleasure, Satan, Sin, Sowing and Reaping: Matt. 4:1-11;                                John 10:10; Gal. 6:7-8; Heb. 11:25  

            Affirmation: He said to mankind, "The fear of the LORD is this: wisdom. And to turn  from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28). Who is the man who fear the LORD? He will show him the way he should choose (Psalm 25:12). How happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways (Psalm 128:1). The LORD values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love (Psalm 147:11).                   

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His Forgiveness

                                                       Never Rest Ministries