The Bible says of Moses that he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than "enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." His was a calculated choice.
The reason he made the choice is illustrated in an experience my wife and I had while we were in Hawaii a few years ago. As we entered our room one night, Sue said, "There's a spider on the wall!" I looked and saw a spider about the size of my clenched fist. It was big, black and hairy. It was so big, when I approached it, I could hear the sound of its feet walking across the wallpaper. I quickly retreated and grabbed a can of insect repellent and sprayed the beast. It immediately fell off the wall and disappeared into our bed. A few minutes later, its hairy legs slowly appeared from under our bed. I lay across the top of the bed, and covered it with spray until it disappeared under a pile of foam.
Imagine this scenario. We had come to our room an hour earlier. I was lying in bed, snoring with my mouth wide open directly beneath the spider. It silently drops off the wall, onto my pillow, then steps onto my shoulder and walks across the bare flesh of my chest. I feel its hairy body against mine, snuggle into it and whisper "Teddy bear..." Suddenly, my wife turns on the light. It's then that I see that the beast I am embracing will be the death of me—it has the sting of death in its ugly mouth!
That's what you are doing with lust. In the darkness of your ignorance, you are embracing the very thing that will bring about your death—"Lust brings forth sin, and sin, when it has conceived brings forth death." Perhaps you find that a little hard to believe. In the darkness, the warm fur of the body of lust does make you smile with breath-taking pleasure. Let me then turn the light on so that you can see what you are actually embracing.
