Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
How He Sets the Hook Theme of the Week: The Lure of Lust Thursday, July 11, 2002
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July/August 200254How He Sets the HookTheme of the Week: The Lure of Lust How He Sets the Hook Theme of the Week: The Lure of Lust Thursday, July 11
Key Bible Verse: He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life (Proverbs 7:23). Bonus Reading: John 8:34–36
When a bass strikes at a lure, it has no idea that it's just swallowed a hook. It swims away with no thought of danger.
That's also what happens when most people take Satan's bait. They engage in an act of lustful sin, and go on about their lives with no thought that they may have just set in motion a string of terrible consequences. Those who engage in premarital sex rarely see their behavior as "trying to make a baby." Those who "experiment" with adultery seldom think they're setting the time bomb for destruction of their marriage.
When the fisherman tightens the line, the hook is embedded in the jaw of the fish, and things take on a whole new dimension! The same goes for sexual sin. A person can go only so long before he reaches the end of the line and the hook is set. The husband finds out. The pregnancy test strip is an undesirable color. The diagnosis is herpes. The mistress begins to make blackmail demands. The hiv test comes back positive.
An old proverb declares, "Your sin will find you out." But even if you go your entire life without your sin coming to light, it eventually will be revealed.
—Ed Young in Fatal Distractions
My Response: A sinful behavior that I've been in denial about is …
Thought to Apply: Before God can deliver us we must undeceive ourselves. —Augustine of Hippo (church leader, 4th century)
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