Friday, February 10, 2023
Hunters hunt by using bait--the pleasure principle. Worms are gourmet for fish. Another temptation is sex; a hunter blows a horn imitating a duck call. The male duck, looking for a good time, gets caught. That's not just true for animals and hunters, it's true of the enemy, the hunter of your soul. He uses the pleasure principle to trap you, to get you away from God, into temptation, out of God's will. It doesn't matter what it is, whether you have a hard time with other believers, that's the pleasure/pain principle. He will offer something to get you away from fellowship. To overcome that, stop living by pleasure and stop avoiding the uncomfortable. Seek God and His righteousness. Refuse the pleasures of sin and embrace the hardness of the cross. When the enemy's bait has nothing to connect to, he can't touch you. The enemy's worm, the enemy's horn will not lure you. Reject the pleasure principle for the God principle and the righteousness principle. Do what is right. Forget about pain or pleasure and you will end up a victorious believer and not a dead duck.
From Message #1191 - The Pleasure Principle
When you face temptation today, try something new - look to the end of that temptation, where it will take you, the pain it will bring - and resist It!
