TEMPTATION: LIFE'S BAIT & SWITCH

I'm not a shopper, but I can tell you a few bait & switch stories. Friends have gone into stores looking for just that one sale's circular item only to find it sold out. Stores give out rain checks, but if you're not careful, you could end up walking out with more than you bargained for. Personally, I think this is more pervasive on Black Friday, but that's just me!

Much like a shopping trip gone awry, temptation is all about the bait & switch, isn't it? We believe we're getting one thing; we end up with something entirely different. Our original mother was lured by a false sense of happiness and she, along with her hubby, Adam, ended up evicted from paradise (Genesis 3). Jacob labored hard to get the woman of his dreams, but after toiling for seven years, he woke up with the wrong daughter thanks to Laban (Genesis 29). Even the old trickster himself tried his best to trip up Jesus. Not once. Not twice, but three times he offered the deal of a lifetime. Yet tempting as it may have sounded, satan's bait & switch offer was exposed by Jesus. His false claim in advertisement was countered with "It is written!" (Matthew 4).

Temptation is life's bait & switch. Though we all get tempted by one thing or another, we don't have to fall for its appeal. Skirt through any newspaper ad or magazine article and you're promised happiness in a bottle, beauty in a pill, satisfaction in a chance encounter, a dilemma to test your will (okay, I wasn't trying to rhyme here). But before falling for the hype, listen to what God's word says:

"These things happened to them as examples and were
written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he
will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,
we can stand up under it." -- I Corinthians 10:11-13

When we are tempted, God's "way out" requires choice. We can choose to accept His truth when lies abound. We can choose to remain encouraged when hopelessness sets in. We can choose to be self-controlled and alert especially when resistance seems futile (1 Peter 5:8-10). Our choices may not be the easiest to follow or the most popular with the world, but they do yield the best eternal benefits. And whether you're a shopper or not, who isn't tempted by that bargain? I know I am!