Caution

Peter Jennings famous news anchor for ABC News died last night of lung cancer. As I listened to several accounts of his life and times I was surprised to hear that he had given up smoking cigarettes about twenty years ago and then started back shortly after 9/11. I have known several people who have started smoking again after having beaten their addiction. I always wonder why someone would do it, particularly “thinking” people who know that it is going to adversely affect their health and could lead to cancer and a very painful death.

Temptation can be strong sometimes. I quit drinking nearly five years ago now and yet am still regularly tempted to begin anew. Many friends and even a couple of doctors have encouraged me to occasionally have a glass of wine with dinner and/or have a beer or mixed drink to relax. It is tempting, I must admit; especially after a hard day of fishing and everyone else is having a “jet cold” beer which I can smell right down to my toes, (yes I still remember that fragrance). I always give it careful thought and then decide against it. When I evaluate it, I remind myself that drinking used to give me headaches, made me gain weight, made me feel bad afterwards, and often I said and did things while drinking that I would never otherwise have even contemplated. It did not improve my Christian witness and no one would know that I was Christian sometimes when I had too much to drink. While it did relax me and make me feel good temporarily, I feel that the negative far outweighs the positive and therefore I have stubbornly refused to start back.

I wonder if Peter Jennings would be alive today if he would have carefully analyzed whether or not to renew the smoking habit, and had thought about the obvious health hazards and decided against it. Often the most important decisions in life are made without much thought or careful consideration. Satan uses temptation as a primary tool to trap us into making the wrong impulsive decision which can lead to our destruction, (satan’s ultimate goal). God gives us logic to combat temptation, but we must use it. The Bible teaches that although God is going to allow satan to tempt us, He will always provide a method for us to escape and never tempt us beyond our capacity to resist and successfully defeat satan’s temptations. Fortunately the Holy Spirit of God resides in Christians and helps us to wage these battles.

Are you being tempted today? Of course you are! Perhaps you are being tempted by drugs, sex, pornography, or alcohol, or perhaps it is simply a case of the wrong kind, (or too much), food for your diet, or you are tempted to flirt with a co-worker, or gamble away your hard-earned money, or maybe you want to take up smoking like Peter Jennings did, or a million other temptations. Satan knows your weaknesses and the world has much to offer that is bad, but Jesus has the right stuff and it is good. Use caution and use logic, but most of all use prayer and SINCERELY work hard to defeat the forces of evil that want to deprive you of a blessed Christian life filled with peace and joy. Satan and his minions would like nothing better than to bring you to your knees and will revel in your destruction…Trust in God to give you strength and perseverance to successfully win the battles of temptation that you will face even as early as today…


Phil. 4:19

And my God shall supply all
Your need according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus.