Daily Devotional for September 25, 2018
Smell of Sin
Mitchell sniffed the air as he walked into the house. “Mmm, cookies! Can I have one, Mom?”
“Not right now,” said Mom. “They need to cool, and we’re going to be having dinner soon. You can have one for dessert after we eat.”
“Okay,” said Mitchell, but he looked longingly at the cookies as they cooled on the counter. They smelled so good, and he knew they tasted even better. He was still standing there, looking at them, when his mother took another cookie sheet from the oven. “The more I smell these cookies, the more I want one,” he said. “Can’t I just have a small one?”
Mom shook her head. “It would be easier to wait if you went somewhere else instead of standing there where you can see them and smell them,” she said. “Remember the Bible verse you learned last week?”
“You mean the one about God always providing a way to escape temptation so we don’t have to give in to it?” asked Mitchell.
“That’s the one,” said Mom. “And I think the way to escape this temptation is to go outside and play.”
“But cookies aren’t bad,” said Mitchell. “It’s not a sin to eat a cookie.”
“True,” said Mom, “but if you stay around the cookies long enough, you might give in to the temptation to eat one. And then you’d be disobeying me, which is a sin.”
Mitchell sighed. “Okay, I’ll go outside.” He left the kitchen and went out the door to the garage.
He was shooting baskets in the driveway when his mother called him to come in for dinner. “You were right, Mom,” he said as he sat down at the table. “The cookies quit bothering me after I got away from them. When I got busy doing something else, I forgot all about them.”
Mom nodded. “As Christians, we can always say no to sin because Jesus freed us from it. But it’s still a good idea to get away from things we know will tempt us. Then we can focus on doing good things without any distractions!” – Pamela J. Kuhn
How about you?
Is it hard for you to say no to sin? When you’re tempted to do something wrong, remember that Jesus freed you from sin and that you don’t ever have to give in to it. But it’s also good to avoid putting yourself in situations in which you know you’ll be tempted. Ask Jesus to help you know when to stay away from something, and when you do find yourself in a tempting situation, trust Him to show you a way out.
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