The Road to Ruin

by Aleta Kay



          It starts out innocent enough: a little white lie, then justification of the lie. Your conscience starts to bother you but you turn it off. One little slip up isn’t so bad, is it? The next time temptation hits it’s a little easier to give in. No one will know and if they do you can lie your way out of it again. Your conscience doesn’t bother you as much.

          The next temptation that comes will be stronger than the last and the urge to resist it will be less. You may come up with a more elaborate lie or you may decide you’re entitled to whatever pleasure the sin provides. You may decide to ignore the situation. Guilt is hiding in the closet of your mind nearly unconscious.

          James 1:12-15 says, “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.”

          Romans 6:16, 21 says, “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, you become the servant to whom you have yielded; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then in those things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”

          In other words, you are either a slave to your lusts and passions or you are a slave to moral goodness and rightness according to God’s rules, laws and statutes. The question is: WHO OWNS YOU? You do not (contrary to public opinion) own yourself. You are either owned by Satan, the master of all sin, lust, deceit and deptravity; or you are owned by the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for your sin by shedding his blood on the cross and spending three days and nights in the belly of the earth, and rising again the third day, marking the debt PAID IN FULL.

          Did you notice the progression: temptation, lust (considering the temptation), enticement (moving toward the lust), and finally giving in to the forbidden thing (sin). Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” But it doesn’t stop there. The same verse goes on to say, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

          WHOSE SLAVE DO YOU WANT TO BE?