Beware of the little temptations.
I don’t worry about the devil in a red suit with a pitchfork, pointy horns, and a pointy tail. That’s not the danger.
The danger is the little temptations.
People don’t normally turn from God in one huge step. Rather they turn from God in a series of little steps.
Take, for example, the temptation of Jesus. Most of us would not have been tempted in the way He was. Satan’s temptation of Jesus was subtle and specifically targeted for the Son of God. His mission as the One who came from the Father led to the subtle temptations with which Satan tempted Jesus.
It’s not the big temptations – the temptation to abandon our faith or to break the commandments. It’s the ease with which we take seemingly harmless steps that lead us away from God. Those small steps are the ones which are destructive to our faith.
Jesus knew there were no little sins, no gray areas. He understood that the little sins are not something to be toyed with, but something to be rejected and stamped out of your life.
Deuteronomy 13 describes subtle temptations. Fortunately, God has prepared his people from the earliest times to deal with temptation. This passage helps the follower of God know what to do when he is tempted to serve other gods.
Moses said that there are three subtle temptations that come from the world around us. First, there is the tendency to believe a prophet who is really not a prophet of God. Deuteronomy 18:22 tells us that if a prophet purports to speak a word from God but the prophecy does not come true the prophet is not to be believed or followed. Deuteronomy 13:1–3 takes this corrective a step further. If what the prophet says comes to pass, but if he leads you away from God, you know that this is not a word from God.
We can be easily misled when people speak confidently that they have received a word from God.
Second, subtle temptations come from our friends and family. Many times we would never be tempted if the proposal hadn’t come from someone close to us. For example, Abraham had relations with his concubine Hagar after his wife Sarah encouraged him. I believe Abraham never would have done this without Sarah’s encouragement.
Third, subtle temptations come from our culture. When it seems that all the world has chosen a certain way, we are inclined to follow the ways of the dominant culture. We must guard against the desire to become like everyone else.
It’s not the big temptations; it’s the little ones. It’s those little temptations that come from those around us that we find hard to overcome.
Be on watch, and guard your heart.
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