The Tyranny of Temptation

We recently encountered some visitors in our garage. After a few squeals from the kids, my husband proceeded to The Home Depot to purchase some mouse traps. Now, keep in mind that he’s of that general mentality that if one is good, fifteen must be even better. While I thought it was a bit excessive, at least I was encouraged that he took his job of mouse hunter seriously.

But now, the garage was effectively booby trapped so I warned the kids of the dangers of letting our dog out there. We became vigilant in keeping one eye on the dog at all times and remembering to close all doors – something that seems to be a tough thing for my kids.

On the first night of mouse warfare we experienced success. I’ll spare you the details, but Mickey (and friends) were now gone. Night two, not a creature was stirring. And so, by night three, I felt confident that our problem was resolved. Yet, I wanted some insurance should any others return. My concern: how would we possibly keep the dog out of the garage and away from the peanut butter laden traps for an extended period of time?

Then, I spotted the answer. Our dog crate, which the dog boycotted long ago, was now in the garage. I placed the plethora of traps in the crate and secured it – mice could go in should others decide to visit, but the dog couldn’t. I could monitor daily to make sure the visitors hadn’t returned.

The plan was working. Or so I thought.

The next afternoon, ear piercing screams echoed from the garage. My daughter was pleading for me to come. She stood, gasping for breath, pointing at the crate. And much to my amazement, there sat our dog – inside the crate with all of the loaded mouse traps, trying to help himself to a snack of peanut butter. I somehow extracted him and his nose wasn’t shredded by the traps. I’m still not sure how he managed to not get snapped.

I wish I’d had time to capture a picture of him sitting in the crate with all the mouse traps. It’s a perfect picture of how we live life sometimes. We have so many freedoms in Christ, yet, we tend to find the one place that’s out of bounds and try to park ourselves there. Our dog had the freedom to go anywhere in our house and yard. He has an abundance of love and food and toys and warm beds. Yet, he fell to the temptation of the smear of peanut butter and was barely spared from damaging consequences.

What are we tempted by today? Is it gossip, or laziness, or distorting the truth to protect our image? Are we tempted by lust or envy? Are we tempted to think that we’re better than someone else and judge their behavior?

I pray that we’ll focus on the many freedoms that we have and run from the cage of temptation. We might not be as lucky as my dog, Duke, and instead experience the pain and burn when the temptation bites back.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Cindy Schufflebarger
Author and Speaker
www.cindyshufflebarger.com