Trapped in Your Sin?

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, 
brings forth death.

James 1:13-15

Sooooooo…there’s this squirrel.  Recently there have been very suspicious things happening in my garage and one by one they were all pieced together.  It started with me finding Jill (my stored away holiday scarecrow) knocked down in the garage so I stopped…looked at it…and go, “Hmm, how did that fall down?” So, I pick it up and put it back in its right spot and…I carry on. Then, over the course of a week, I realize things like areas of leaf piles here and there, disarrayed bouquets of my dried out rose petals scattered on the ground, little paint bottles knocked over, and a little bitty whole in the side of the garage(which is stopped up normally) is exposed.  So, as I look around and see these things happening I go “Hmm” and I carry on. But, then….one fateful Tuesday morning as I’m making my running dash out the door to open the garage and get off to work my feet come to a screeching halt and my mouth opens with a squeal (Squeal:  a short high cry expressing pain or other strong emotion) and I’m stopped dead in my tracks.  Lo and behold I am not alone for out of the corner of my eye something darted across the garage floor!  And within a 10 second span I have this conversation in my head: 

“What was that?” 

“I have no idea!”

“Should I attempt to go 5 feet from the garage door to the car and risk being attacked?”

“Go for it - you can make a running attempt, after all you can’t be late to work!”

So I ran for the car jumped in and left in hopes that the little creature made its way out.  So over the course of the week I tried to forget about it and not seeing any new signs of messes I figured it was gone until…my mom, the key witness who identified it as being furry tailed, had a run in with it just a few days later.  As each day passed by I found some new and old things it was doing around the garage like scratching up drywall and continually exposing the whole in the wall. But wait, oh yes, wait – there’s more!  One morning my little furry tailed pest had made its way into the attic and was scratching above my closet.   This is it-it’s on now!  I shouted up to it “I’m gonna find you and when I do I’m going to kill you!” Harsh? Okay, maybe…sorry animal lovers.  No, my intent wasn’t to kill it but to trap it!  To trap a pesky squirrel one must lure it in the cage with an alluring feast - a feast consisting of peanut butter, salty potato chips, and of course peanuts ;) 

Soooooo….there’s this squirrel.  As pesky and irritating as it has been trying to trap it - it has been a visual illustration to me from the Lord.  You see, I just “so happened” to be finishing up a study that I had been doing with our high school girls in which it was talking about being trapped in your sin.  We read in James “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” We just like this squirrel can find ourselves in places where we don’t belong whether it be where our feet take us, what our eyes look at, what our ears listen to, or even the places we go to in our minds.  We initially enter into traps with  curiosity, stumbling into, poking around, getting into things that we shouldn’t be in, all in the meanwhile affecting others in the things we do (sin has a way of doing that – it not only affects you but also affects those around you).  We’re drawn away by our own desires.  Temptation in and of itself is not a sin; when you give into temptation then it becomes a sin.  When you continue to poke around you’ll eventually become trapped.  How? Just like the squirrel in order to trap it, it must be lured in.  I have to put something out that smells good for food and is pleasant to the eyes (Gen 3:6-7) that will do the job of drawing it in.  We work the same way.  If sin appeared ugly and nasty we probably wouldn’t go near it.  But because sin is pleasurable for a season (Hebrews 11:25) and appears great, it is very easy to get lured in and trapped in it if we don’t take the way of escape that God offers (1 Cor. 10:13).  As children of God, He gives us a way of escape when we are tempted and we must flee away from it quickly.  If we don’t and choose to be drawn away by giving into temptation, we will eventually find ourselves trapped in our sin, locked in a cage, awaiting either death (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”) or to be set free from it (1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” and Rom 6:22-23 “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”)  You see, on one end we can see the enemy wanting to see us remaining to be trapped in our sin and left to die but on the other end we can see God desiring to set us free through the blood of Christ and giving us a new start.  God loves you.  He loves you so much that He doesn’t desire to see you caught up and trapped in your sin. Whom the Lord loves He chastens (Hebrews 12:6) and He will do whatever it takes to get your attention.  Don’t learn the hard way next time; when tempted take the way of escape.

I lift an anthem of praise to You, God, for always providing a way of escape from sin.  I know I can stand on the truth that I can do ALL things through You who strengthens me while knowing at the same time that apart from You I can do absolutely nothing.  Please help me not to drawn away by my own desires but to submit myself completely to You out of my love and devotion to You.

Don’t be a Squirrel,   

Audra