There I Go--Thinking Again!

You may have seen it on TV, read it in "Playboy Magazine," or gone to an X-rated movie--but, nonetheless, it's tempted you to SIN! 

"Sin is not in the BAIT...it's in the BITE!"  1st--the eye "sees" it; 2nd--the mind "stores" it in its memory bank; 3rd--you start to "desire" it; 4th--you put those thoughts into "action"; then it becomes SIN!

Our "battles" always begin in our thoughts (our minds).  Jesus' greatest battle was not on the cross...it was in The Garden!  That's where He mentally and emotionally battled....it was His will wrestling with His flesh.  His flesh  didn't want to hang out to  dry--nailed on a cross.  The battle was so severe and intense that He sweat drops of blood.  Satan was tempting Him to sin against His Father.

Sometimes, however, temptation comes in a more subtle setting.  In another garden (The Garden of Eden), satan seduces Eve, who seduces Adam, to commit sin by disobeying God's one and only command--"do not eat from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."  She saw the tree...she desired its fruit...she picked it, bit into it, then offered it to Adam.  They both knew better!  

After they bit into the sweet, delicious fruit--it suddenly turned sour!  Sin has a bitter taste...maybe not in the 1st bite, but--after a while--it sickens your system.  So what's the antidote for this (spiritual) sickness?

• Go and tell "The Great Physician" (God) = CONFESS your sin!
• He will give you something to purge your system = FORGIVENESS.
• In the future, resist the temptation.

What's your biggest temptation?  I'll tell you mine:

• You can dump me in a bathtub full of booze...
• You can throw me in a haystack of tobacco...and neither will tempt me; but--
• Take me into a bakery, and--I CAN'T RESIST!!!

So I must STAY AWAY....BACK AWAY from such places and not entertain or think about sweets!  (By the way--I'm still a work in progress!  I can usually resist the bakery, but not the cookie jar!)

Okay!  I confess!  I had a couple of cookies for breakfast....but they were OATMEAL (and oatmeal's good for you--right?).