The Leaf - A Lesson in Less-Subtle Temptations

Yesterday, I told you that this morning, I'd be blogging about Spiritual Whirlwinds, but right now, I want to blog about something else.

A few days ago, I saw a leaf floating a foot or so above the ground, twirling in the breeze, but never falling to the ground. At first, I was curious about this anomaly, and almost went to take a closer look, but then I realized what it was - the leaf was suspended in a spider's web. As I walked away from the window, I thought about how the leaf gave an obvious indication of the presence of the web, yet I was still drawn toward it anyway. You would think that remaining invisible would have given the web a better chance of catching its prey, or at least tricking me into walking into it, but it turned out that curiosity was almost an effective bait.

Because of Satan, we are frequently faced with temptations, which usually rely on subtlety and non-detection to catch unsuspecting victims, But sometimes, even when non-detection fails, the traps still manage to catch some of us because we grow curious about them. Some people have "experimented" with alcohol, smoking, drugs, and pornography despite knowing that these things are generally considered vices and are frequently addicting. We know that the webs are there, and we know that they're webs, and yet there's still some pull to go toward them.

Granted, once I realized that the leaf in the web was a leaf in a web, my desire to approach it diminished, but with the webs meant to catch us, that's not always the case. People see others that are smoking, drinking, and generally "having a good time," and are drawn to that lifestyle, despite those choices' known drawbacks. Satan's traps are often sneaky, but they can still be effective when they're lying in plain sight. I plainly saw the leaf, and didn't want to be the leaf, but if I thought the leaf was having fun in the web (and its twirling did look kind of fun), and I thought I could have fun by hanging onto the web, too, I might have been tempted by it. And right now, I'm thinking that that's pretty scary.

Satan has devoted his life to tempting others to commit sin, and he has gotten pretty good at it. Subtlety is a favorite method of his, but when that fails, he piles on the bait. Sometimes he piques our interest with offers of fun or pleasure, and sometimes it's mere curiosity that draws us in. In either case, we need to see his temptations for the traps they are, and avoid them, no matter how fun or interesting they look.