Will You Take the Bait?

Posted on Oct 24, 2017 Topic : Men's Christian Living
Posted by : Johnny Hunt

Any successful fisherman knows that fish, by their nature, are drawn to things they see as good to eat. He also knows that what fish find irresistible can change due to a variety of circumstances—water and weather conditions, the time of year, and so forth. An expert fisherman knows how to work around those circumstances and present a bait or a lure that looks and smells good to the fish he wants to catch. When he finds something that appeals to the fish’s senses, the animal loses all caution and grabs something not good for it. It gets itself hooked. And then it’s too late.

It’s the same way with people.

Many Christian men rationalize that the devil put too big a temptation in front of them to resist.

The truth is, of course, the devil can’t make us do anything. While he’s a powerful, crafty enemy, he has his limitations. He can, however, put all manner of temptations in front of us. If a certain bait doesn’t work, he’ll try another. With thousands of years of practice, he’s become an expert fisherman. Still, he can’t make us chomp down on any of his enticing lures. We choose whether we bite or pass.

In some ways, the devil knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that a lure that might work under one situation, or for one man, might not work for another. But he has a tackle box filled with thousands of beautiful, shiny baits, and he knows which ones to use to draw us out and entice us to lose all caution.

The devil is never satisfied with just making us stumble and fall into one sin. He intends to set up strongholds in our lives—the more the better. And he gets the process started by luring us into taking just one tiny bite of just one little lure.

Without Christ empowering and enabling us, we have no power against the devil’s temptations.

As powerless as we are, however, we still have an advantage—one that the devil has no power to overcome.

God never intended for us to battle temptation from a position of weakness. He never intended for us to throw up our hands and accept sin as part of our human existence. He didn’t save us so we could just limp along in life, totally at the mercy of temptation and at the whim of a spiritual enemy who wants to build powerful strongholds in our lives.

If we intend to enjoy victory over temptation, we need to understand that we can’t do it on our own.

Jesus is mightier than sin. He is mightier than your sinful nature. He is mightier than any temptation the devil or this world can throw your way. And He is mightier than the strongholds the devil wants to set up in your life.