Daily Devotional for January 19, 2017
Dangerous Bait
Braelyn dropped her fishline over the side of the boat and watched the bait sink into the water. “That worm squirming on my fish hook looks so gross!” she said. “How could a fish possibly want to eat it?”
Dad chuckled. “You’re right, Braelyn. It doesn’t look very appealing to us, but to a fish, it’s food.”
“Well, I’d rather starve!” said Braelyn.
Dad smiled. “You might look at it differently if you were a fish.”
Braelyn’s brother Judson gently tugged his line across the water. “What fish don’t realize is that a sharp hook is hidden inside these yummy-looking worms. All they think about is how good the worm will taste when they eat it. They don’t give any thought to what might happen after they bite.”
“I guess not,” said Braelyn. “If they knew they’d get hooked, they wouldn’t bite, no matter how good the worm looked to them.”
“Maybe not, but they might,” said Dad. “Sometimes fish can be like people.”
“People?” asked Braelyn. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but you won’t find me biting on a worm!”
Dad laughed. “No, not a worm. But what about some other kind of bait?”
Judson frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’m thinking of times when there’s something we really want to do, but we know it’s wrong,” said Dad. “You could say that Satan baits a hook with things that tempt us to make bad decisions.”
“So it’s like Satan is fishing for us?” asked Braelyn.
“Something like that,” said Dad. “He likes to trick us by tempting us with things that look good. Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall for his bait and end up making choices that are not pleasing to God. We might regret our choices later, but often it’s too late and we have to live with the consequences of our actions. And that’s never fun.”
“Well, the next time I’m tempted to do something I know is wrong, I’m going to remember these fish,” said Braelyn. “Then maybe I’ll think twice about taking Satan’s bait!” – Chip Montgomery
How about you?
Do you recognize the bait Satan uses to tempt you? Maybe he uses a friend’s good grades to tempt you to cheat. Or perhaps he uses the fear of punishment to tempt you to tell a lie. Satan is an expert at fooling people, and his goal is to get you to make decisions that displease God. Don’t take the bait!
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