Charles Spurgeon told the story of a preacher who
was strolling through a village. As he walked along, he saw a man
going down the road with a herd of pigs following in line behind him like
sheep following behind a shepherd. This was a very unusual sight, because
pigs, ordinarily, are very self-centered, independent creatures that
never follow anyone. So, the preacher asked, "Sir, how do you
get those pigs to follow you like that?"
"Oh, it's easy," the farmer said. "I
have a sack full of peas in my pocket; and I just keep walking,
occasionally dropping a pea on the road behind me. The pigs follow along wherever
I drop a pea and gobble it up, never caring where I'm leading
them."
"That's very clever!" said the pastor.
"By the way; where are you leading them?"
And the man said, "To the butcher's shop, of
course."
The devil often follows the same strategy. The Bible
warns us, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour" (1 Peter 5:8). But he rarely carries a big sign that
says, "Follow me, so I can devour you." He knows we
wouldn't follow him if he was that obvious. Instead, he works subtly to draw
us away from God's good will for our lives.
Just like the farmer in that story, the devil drops
little, fleshly temptations in front of us through the elements of
our culture: a suggestive movie or television show here; an off-color
story or inappropriate joke there; a seductive advertisement or pop song
here; a pornographic magazine or web page there. Satan knows our earthly,
sinful human nature. He knows what tempts us, regardless of gender or age. He’s
got centuries of experience over all of us.
And if we aren't alert, we follow along behind,
picking such things up and thinking, "I can handle this. This isn't
so bad. It's just a little pea, after all. It tastes good. Who's it going
to hurt? Who's going to care? Who's going to know?" We gobble these
tempting little "peas" up, one after another; never realizing
that they're forming a straight line that is leading us down a slippery
slope to destruction and loss.
The answer that the Bible gives to such things is
summed up in one word: "Flee" (1 Corinthians 6:18).
It’s not that simple though, is it? We can’t do it
on our own strength. It helps to know that we have Someone that can, and will,
give us the strength to fight the power of Satan. Jesus is our High Priest that
knows how tempted we are by Satan and life here on earth.
“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too
shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the
power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were
held in slavery by their fear of death…For this reason He had to be made like
His brother in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful
High Priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of
the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is ABLE TO HELP
THOSE WHO ARE BEING TEMPTED.” Hebrews 2:14-18
Find yourself tempted, stumbling and feeling guilty?
Don’t let such things get you down and cause you to give up. Our precious
Savior, Jesus Christ, knows exactly what you’re going through. He was tempted
but did not yield thus He will give us the strength we need to fight
temptation. But He can only help by how connected we are with Him. Get
connected. Pray, read, and meditate on His word.
Peace.
