Quote from Forum Archives on April 28, 2004, 4:15 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional

(Over 13,000 subscribers in 75 countries)

04.28.04

Temptation

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he
will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love
Him. 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 1:12-15.

In Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana feeding an alligator can cost you a
$500.00 fine and 30 days in jail. It seems strange that they are taking this
so seriously when many promotional materials from Louisiana promote one of
the exciting things to do when visiting is to feed alligators. However,
feeding an alligator can literally cost you an arm and a leg. Alligators
place everything into two categories - food and non-food. If human beings
feed alligators, they then place humans in the food category. Feeding a baby
gator is cute but a hungry nine footer is more trouble than most of us want.
Deputy Howard McCrea says that he was forced to haul away 250 nuisance
alligators just last year.

Temptation is much like a baby alligator in that it looks on the surface as
being harmless. We take the baby temptation home with us and begin to feed
it and what happens? It grows. It grows from temptation into sin. Sin unlike
an alligator is never full and is always hungry. Sin like an alligator grows
and grows as it is fed more and more. Feeding a nine-foot alligator requires
substantial resources and time. Caution must be used because the alligator
will eat you if you are careless. Sin as it grows requires more and more
resources and time to be devoted to its maintenance. Caution must be used
with sin as well because it will destroy you if it can. Sin when it is full
grown results, according to James, in death. The end result of playing with
the baby temptation is death.

There are some obvious lessons here for us. If we are involved in sin of any
kind or form, it is harmful to us. How do we stop the sin once we are
involved? Stop feeding it! Stop devoting time and resources to the sin. Cut
the sin monster off and it will eventually begin shrinking. The less you
engage in the sin the less power it will have over you. The more distance
you put between you and the sin, the more free you will be and feel.

The penalty for feeding an alligator is $500.00 and 30 days in jail (It
could be an arm and a leg or worse.) The penalty for feeding sin is death.
Thank God that even though the wages of sin are death, the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23)!

Copyright © 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

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