The Stray Sin at Your Door

"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7

There's this cat that showed up on our porch. I told my husband not to feed her. I told him to resist her cute fuzziness. I told him she's going to keep coming back.

She did. And we had kittens.

Sin is a lot like the stray cat that claws at your screen door. On the outside, feeding it seems harmless. After all it's just one cat (one kiss, one drink, one hit, one name-your-vice). What can it hurt?

As we learned, one cat became five cats. And that's a lot more than we bargained for.

What sin are you feeding?

I have said it before and I'll say it again: sin doesn't look bad. If it did, we'd all know to avoid it. Satan is a deceiver, a liar and a really good spin doctor. Take his very first encounter with Eve (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan questions God's only mandate to not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. God told them they could have their fill of ANY tree in the garden EXCEPT that one. (Gen. 2:16-17) He said that when they eat from it they will certainly die. (Side note: I find it fascinating God said, "WHEN you eat from it.." not "IF you eat from it..." Just saying. He knew of their transgression before they transgressed.) The Bible says Eve, "saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." (v.6).

Notice it doesn't say the fruit was rotten and ugly. It doesn't say the fruit was obviously poisoned. It says the fruit was pleasing to the eye.

But the fruit was deadly.

Do we enter into sin aiming to hurt ourselves or others? No. We enter in because it's pleasing to the eye, or the taste buds, or the flesh. We enter in because we doubt the validity and warnings of God.

But the Bible also tells us how to stay out of trouble. James 4:7 says to "resist the devil, and he will flee from you." It's like when your little brother has his finger right in front of your face saying, "I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you." If you ignore him, he goes away, but if you give in to his taunts, you make him the happiest little pest in the world.

Not that resisting the devil is easy. It's not. In fact it's super hard, but if we stay in God's word and ask his Spirit to surround us daily, we have a much better chance of doing what's right.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go feed my kittens.