Yep, but we're talking about temptation, and temptation's not silly at all: temptation has a way of blind-siding us by distracting our focus and appearing as "Something I Really, Really Want & Really Deserve ... It's My Life and Me Business, and No One Will Ever Know."
Sounds appealing and delicious, but it's not.
Temptation isn't just a "harmless fantasy" or a pleasant private daydream. Temptation leads to sin, and sin isn't just having a "Me First weekend," "looking the other way" or taking a "time-out" from Jesus.
Temptation is scary business because temptation is a warning that sin's waiting around the corner ... and Sin has real honest-to-God consequences.
"But but but, all my friends ... I mean, my preacher doesn't know everything or have all the answers, so I think it's ok and natural if I want to ..."
What about the friends, casual acquaintances, co-workers, bosses, Facebook friends, boyfriends, girlfriends or whoever, who work hand in hand with temptation to make sin sound appealing ... what's their agenda all about? Whose priorities have they got in mind, anyway?
What makes this a hard question to answer?
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
- Psalm 5:9
Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
- Luke 17:1-2
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
- John 8 :43-45
