Mules And Carrots
Written by author on September 8, 2013
Mules And Carrots
1 Timothy 6:8-10
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The story of the two girls caught up in the transportation of drugs in Peru is by now familiar to most of us. Their plight has elicited a number of responses; poor souls, serves them right, easy money gone wrong, they knew what they were doing, and so on. All such opinion is of course judgemental for we neither know or understand the circumstances that compelled them to act in this way, though parents can probably relate to the agonies suffered, particularly by Melissa Reid’s dad. He at least has met with his daughter to give her comfort though he admits to a certain amount of scepticism about her version of events. So was it naivety or greed?
Truthfully, have you ever been been faced with temptation? Thank God I sense only nodding heads! We’ve all been there, just as Jesus has. Almost immediately after his baptism he faced the devil in the desert of temptation – Matthew 4 Once confirmed as Messiah he was under attack. My experience suggests that Christians, especially faith active ones, are more likely to be under spiritual attack as satan tries to wrest us from the love of God. Though believers might recognise it for what it is, in reality anyone can be put under temptation at any time often through gilded motive dressed to flatter or deceive. Immediacy becomes the imperative while the disastrous after effects are sidelined. The devastating ripple of sin on the lives of all concerned is only realised after the stone hits the water!
The two girls languishing in a Peruvian prison will have ample time to reflect on the personal effects of sin but only they really know if it was temptation or coercion that got them there.
Should we condemn, or reflect on what each of us might have done in similar circumstance. Remember no sin was in the world until man appeared and even after we fell God advised on how to handle it.The warning in Genesis chapter 4 is clear “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Despite our propensity to sin God continues to love us and offer protection as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Don’t we have a better chance to remain sin free with God’s help? Remember, it only becomes sin if you give in!
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