Thursday, August 19, 2010

The trap of temptation

Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge (Psalm 31:4).

I’d like to tell you the story of two brothers—Raynald and Edward. Raynald and Edward lived about six hundred years ago. Raynald was the older brother, he was duke of the country we know today as Belgium. Raynald was also a man with enormous appetite—he was grossly overweight.

As brothers often do, Raynald and Edward had fights with each other. One fight was so vicious that Edward organized a revolt and removed his brother from the throne. But Edward did not kill his older brother; instead, he had a special room built around Raynald inside the family castle. An ordinary person would see nothing unusual about that room. It had ordinary-sized windows and an ordinary-sized door. But the design of the room made locks unnecessary; Raynald was too fat to squeeze his way out.

Edward promised his brother freedom if he wanted it. All he had to do was leave the room. But Edward also made sure that plenty of tempting food was delivered to that room every day. And instead of losing weight, Raynald grew even fatter. As a result, the elder brother stayed trapped in his room for ten years, until Edward was killed in battle. But freedom came too late; overindulgence had ruined Raynald’s health, and he died within a year.

The story of these brothers illustrates our relationship with Satan. We are like Raynald; we are fascinated with overindulgence. Some of us eat too much, others drink too much. Some can’t stop gambling, others are addicted to online pornography. Regardless of what it is, every one of us has a compulsion that dominates our lives.

Satan is like Edward. He uses our cravings to trap us. He leaves the door unlocked, saying that the choice is ours. But he keeps tempting us with the things that keep us trapped, and we lack the self-discipline to push them away.

We need Jesus. We need his forgiveness, which frees us from captivity. We need His strength so we can resist temptation. Without the Lord’s help, we will remain trapped until our sin finally kills us.

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