Sin is designed to lure and entrap you in the most surreptitious of ways. The devil is a master of disguise who veils his schemes in things that appear to be innocuous. He wraps sin up in a variety of packaging, often under the guise of fun and entertainment. A television show, a theatrical play, a game, a movie, even a song, are not exempt from his methods of deceit.
The evil one will place his mark on them
all as he seeks to entangle and destroy you. It is his sneaky way of
distracting the unsuspecting believer away from the Lord and getting you mired
in sin.
Sin can begin as the smallest and simplest
of distractions. Something that seems to be just innocent fun turns out to be innocent
fun with a side order of sin and sadly, many times, you’ve placed that order
yourself. The devil’s expertise is sneakiness, and you cannot afford to be
deceived.
Satan has had thousands of years to perfect his trade, so he is crafty and adept at it and it’s easy to be outwitted by him, but you cannot allow folly to outweigh wisdom.
Without becoming fanatical, you need to get
into the habit of carefully examining the things that you’re getting involved
in; those seemingly “innocent fun” things that are demanding all your attention
and taking you into the idol worship zone, are traps that anyone can fall into
without even realizing it.
Apostle Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 10 to stay away from idol worship. He reminds us about what happened to the Israelites who indulged in idol worship and subsequently other sinful behavior while they were on their sojourn to the Promised Land. When your focus has shifted to constantly engaging in everything other than the things of God, you’re going to encounter the problem of yielding to temptation.
Forever prowling (1 Peter 5:8), the devil is counting on your willingness to compromise but Christians must set an example of restraint.
It is not an easy road to walk but if you
are sincere and serious, walk you must, always keeping in mind that you are not
alone on your journey, you have an aid, a helper, a guide, advocate and
counselor – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will give you a heads-up if you’ll
be sensitive to His nudging and attentive to His leading.
The Israelites, throughout their journey to
the Promised Land, had the presence of God with them constantly, night and day,
hovering and covering, yet still they chose to be wayward. They committed
sexual sins, had wild drunkard parties, complained bitterly and tested the Lord.
Please know that you can’t have it both ways; you cannot expect to have the
Holy Spirit and deliberately partake in sin at the same time as if it's par for the course.
The Apostle wrote,
“They all ate the
same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They
drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was
Christ. But God was not pleased with most of those people…So anyone who
thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t
fall. The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all
people have. But you can trust God…when you are tempted, God will also give you
a way to escape that temptation…So, my dear friends, stay away from worshiping
idols. You are intelligent people.”
(1 Corinthians 10:3-5, 12, 13, 14, 15 ERV)
Beloved, you are intelligent, trust God, He is your escape, ask Him for wisdom to quickly recognize that sneaky sin that can so easily entrap you and hinder your spiritual walk.
Amen †
Shelley Johnson “Sneaky Sin” © 2017 revisited
November 9, 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment