TURN AND RUN
Today's reading: Proverbs 7

"So she seduced him with her pretty speech. With her flattery she enticed him. He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter or like a trapped stag, awaiting the arrow that would pierce his heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life." Proverbs 7:21-23 NLT

Run, we say.

You know better, we try to encourage.

Get out of the situation fast, we shout.

This won't end well, we advise.

Can't you see, we attempt to question.

But we all know, if we're willing to admit, it's a lot easier to spot temptation from a distance than it is up close and personal.

Sin and its entanglements aren't ugly and unbecoming. Quite the contrary. They lure us. They look good. They seem like they might be just what we are looking for. They slip right up next to us while we're not looking. They offer us glimpses of half-truths. They appeal to the exact needs we have in ways we don't have a clue would catch us.

If only sin looked like a snake. A slithery, venomous, hissing, 20 foot long snake, like the near our chicken coop last week. Villainous. Dastardly. Sneaky. Deadly. Fear-inducing.

I'd run, I did run, wouldn't you?