Back in 2006 Computer specialist Didier Stevens put up a simple text advertisement on the Internet offering downloads of a computer virus for people who did not have any. It appeared on Google, saying, “Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!” There was no virus involved, but, amazingly, more than 400 people clicked on the ad. Can you imagine that?
Satan is a little more subtle than that; he doesn’t package our temptations quite so transparently. We’ll never see, “Make this decision to ruin your marriage; go here to sabotage your ministry; say this to alienate your friends.” Temptations always present themselves as the fulfillment of a dream, just like the real internet viruses do in those emails that offer easy loans and fast weight loss. Jesus told his disciples, “Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you.” (Mark 14:38)
Keep alert. That means we have to pay attention to the decisions we make, think about where the consequences will take us. Temptations don’t advertise their painful results.
Pray. It’s not insignificant that the Lord’s Prayer contains the phrase, “Lead us not into temptation.” This prayer should be on our lips every day, as many times a day as necessary. Though no temptation is irresistible [1 Corinthians 10:13], we’re better off avoiding it from the start.
Both of those points were brought home to me just today. I am at the moment 15 days into my 21 day Daniel fast. No sugar, no caffeine, no meat (three of five major food groups) But today I opened up my middle drawer where I keep a couple of candy bars. I had forgotten about them but I was hungry when I reached for one, but then I remembered I can’t eat candy right now. Then that little voice said, “But who will know?” Bottom line, I did not eat the candy bar but I was reminded, I need to keep alert almost any moment can turn into a moment of temptation. And I need to keep praying, “Lord lead us not into temptation.”
Though temptations themselves don’t tell us where they’ll lead, the Bible does. Throughout its pages we’re told again and again that consequences of sin are inevitably emptiness and isolation, leading to the ultimate isolation: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We tend to think that somehow we can sidestep certain results — maybe we can beat the system this one time — but it never works that way.
Today you will be faced with dozens of decisions, some of them cleverly disguised. Keep alert. Watch. Pray. Let God be your guide; let him be your strength.