Pearls of Wisdom: Enticement

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.  ¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:   ¹²Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:  ¹³We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:  ¹⁴Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:  ¹⁵My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:  ¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.  ¹⁷Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.  ¹⁸And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.  ¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

In this passage the writer warns us against the enticement of sinners that seek to draw us into disobedience and foolish behavior.  What a valuable pearl of wisdom!  At first glimpse, you might be tempted to consider the enticing sinner externally, i.e. someone on your job, one of your unsaved friends, that guy that is unsaved but still pursues you, etc.  However, I’d urge you to consider the sinner within.  Every enticement and temptation originates from the sinner inside of you.  It is your flesh that desires to disobey God’s word, and it is your flesh that has the power to take away the life of its owner – you.  Because of sin, our bodies suffer physically from ailments, disease, stress, illness and other issues related to our inability to resist the desires of our flesh. But more importantly, the ultimate cost of sin is death, both physically and spiritually.  Therefore, be careful to control your fleshly desires through the Holy Spirit.  The scripture says that when we are tempted, it is by our own evil desires that entice us and lure us away (James 1:14).  The sinner within.

The sinner that entices you to act contrary to God’s word is the woman in the mirror.  She is the one that entices you to choose comfort over real growth.  She is the one that entices you to settle for less that God’s best.  She is the one that entices you to speak and act out of emotions. She is the one that entices you to be spiritually lazy. She is the one that entices you to disrespect your husband.  Yes, that beautiful creature that you see every morning when you look in the mirror – she is the sinner that seeks to lure you out of the will of God.  Do not consent to her!  Her ways will rob you of your purpose and destiny and will ultimately take away your very life.

For this reason, you have to be on guard against her. You must deposit the Word into her on a regular basis. You must pray and have relationship with the only One that can control her.  You must train her to be obedient to the Word of God despite how it feels. You must protect her from her own lusts and desires by guarding the atmospheres and relationships that she enters into.  Do not underestimate her.  She is clever and will attempt to convince you that something is okay when it is really disobedience.  She will try to convince you that you can handle certain people, places and things. Do not be deceived! Her desires are contrary to the Holy Spirit and if you give in to her, you will reap the consequences of her disobedience. Every time.

SHE is the sinner that entices you!  Watch, pray and be on guard.

Pearls to Ponder:  

In what ways does your flesh try to entice you to disobey God? To choose comfort over the pain of the process? To settle? To give up and quit?  In what areas is your flesh stronger than your desire to obey God? In what areas do you rationale certain behaviors and attitudes that are contrary to the Word? What can you start doing today to guard against the lure of your fleshly desires?

Pearls to treasure:

Romans 8:13: For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.