Termptation: Falling for a Lie

As a child you may recall a time when you were expressly forbidden to sample those tantalizing homemade chocolate chip cookies your mom had just baked. So, you developed a plan. A plan, not intending to disobey, but to appease your desire. Appease? Yes, your voracious appetite for just one chocolate chip cookie consumed you. After all, if you tasted just one cookie, your mom would never know. The plan was seamless in design as you moved with stealth into the kitchen. The only problem was execution of the misdeed- the cookie jar, unbeknownst to you, was close to the edge of the table. Crash! You are busted and the rest is history.

Temptation is the human plight for everyone since our forerunners, Adam and Eve, succumbed to a a seemingly innocent piece of fruit that was off limits. Yet, by the time a couple is married no longer is the target a treasured cookie, but temptation may come in the form of an illicit relationship. To make matters worse, the Enemy, my preferred name for the devil, uses sexual temptations in marriages particularly when one's mate seems undesirable on a myriad of levels.

Over in Proverbs 7 the writer describes the step by step seduction by a married woman towards an unsuspecting man. As you may know there are any of a number of ways the Enemy likes to snare folks, but the sexual arena is without doubt one of the most potent because it so intimately violates conjugal trust. Although this passage deals with the whole seductive process, for our purposes we want to zero in on one aspect - her words. At first glance we might be inclined to accept the fact that an affair is only ignited by physical attraction. That is not usually the case. The words of the seducer, be they male or female, are used by the Enemy to "heal" an area of woundedness within the one who is about to yield.

According to www.bluletterbible.org the woman spoken of in Proverbs 7 used words that are mean to flatter. Flattering words have little effect on one who is confident in who they are as well as who they are as a Christ follower. Yet, one who is devoid of that sense is open to falling for the lie from the Enemy. If the one being seduced does not resist, the trap will be set. The writer puts it this way, "All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose til an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life" (Verses 22-23, NIV).

Be assured of this : the Enemy knows when and where a person is most vulnerable to the lure of

an affair. Regardless of how temptation manifests itself, once a person is aware that the Enemy is attempting to contaminate his/her marriage, the action plan must be mobilized. Paul tells us that with every temptation there is a way to escape, just like there is a doorway to the room you are in right now. In the natural, resisting the temptation to a person who "understands me so well" may seem l ludicrous. Yet, the heartbreak of breaking covenant with your life partner is not worth the limited pleasure.

How do you respond?