Hook, Line & Sinker

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.”

~James 1:13-15

I like to fish. When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot, including fishing poles, so we made our own out of tree limbs, tied line to the ends and caught grasshoppers for bait. Fish couldn’t resist those grasshoppers in the water struggling to escape the hook. The water was so clear, we could watch the fish swim toward the grasshopper, bump it, then open their mouths and swallow. As soon as the grasshopper disappeared, we jerked our poles to set the hook, and then ran up the bank, dragging that fish out of the water. We don’t need no stinking reels! Years later, I thought of how I was like those fish, so focused on the grasshopper, they didn’t see the danger of the hook. That’s how sin gets us. We see something, want that thing, think about it, and go after it without considering what might happen once we have it. We can want something—drugs, sex, money—so badly that we go after it without thinking about the hook hidden beneath.

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2).”

The gospels tell the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. He was shown food and riches and all He had to do was bow down and worship satan. Of course, that sounds ridiculous because Jesus already had everything satan offered. He knew who He was and didn’t have to prove anything. He couldn’t be tempted to show off to the devil a little bit either, which is what I think the devil wanted. The devil knew who Jesus was too, but he couldn’t resist trying to get the better of the Son of God; satan does the same thing to us. He isn’t too concerned with those who don’t know the Lord personally, his target is those of us who do. He wants us to fail, he wants us to look at our situations, and at what we don’t have, instead of at Jesus, who gives us salvation and everlasting life. He wants us to look at the bait and forget about the hook. The devil can only tempt us when we let our lusts and desires take control but if we keep our focus on Jesus, He will always stand between us and the devil.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:16-17).”

Read Ecclesiastes 1-4

©2018 Marie McGaha