Regular readers will remember "There's a Rat in the House" (see link below if you missed it). Would you like to hear "the rest of the story"? Rats don't die easily...and my poor friend, failing in every attempt to eliminate the rat in her house came up with a brilliant idea....She placed two pieces of chocolate where the rat could access it and waited to see what would happen. If you're a chocolate lover, you can guess what happened--rats apparently love chocolate too...as revealed the next morning, when my clever friend found the chocolate gone, but the trap untouched...clever rat, I would say!
But THAT'S not the end of the story either...she continued to seek the rat's demise...and I'm delighted to report that we THINK the rat is gone, gone, gone - to wherever rats go when they depart the planet! Whew--way to go! But uh.....wait a minute....what's THAT on the front porch? Would you believe the rat is GONE but now the CAT has arrived...homeless, lost, or whatever, parked on my friend's front porch! If you're a woman, you can assume that the rat told the cat there was chocolate at this house...and she's there to check it out!
Now before we point a finger, "Shame, shame!" at the rat and the cat...three fingers point back at US....Christians....and it's not chocolate that's our REAL downfall...it's sin! How like the rat and the cat we can be!
We want to go our own way!
We don't like getting caught...
But we still head for the chocolate--it's pure pleasure, you know!
The cost of going our own way is way too high ("...He setteth himself in a way that is not good...Psalm 36:4"); the cost of "getting caught" is way too hard--("...the way of the transgressors is hard...Proverbs 13:15)"--and the chocolate? The sweetness of sin may be "heavenly" for a season (Hebrews 11:25)...but it heads straight straight down the path, not to the hips where you can diet it off, but to hell whre you will die eternally...so beware!
And--next time you're tempted to play "rat" or follow the cat, and yield to some hidden temptation, some forbidden pleasure, think twice...the chocolate won't hurt you MUCH...but SIN WILL! Think about it...!
Delight in a Word from the Well--a refreshing in the Water of His Word
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations (2 Peter 2:9)."
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make the way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13)."
Draw from the Well--a song and a prayer for renewing strength for this day
Create in Me a Clean Heart - by Gilberto Barreto
"Lord, there's something far more deadly than indulging in chocolate...I know it and I've done it! Forgive me, Lord, for yielding to temptation rather than trusting in Your grace. Create in me a clean heart as I make a new commitment to You; help me in my weak moments to reach for Your strength. I want to be an overcomer, In Jesus' Name, Amen."
