FLEE THE PEA!
Charles Spurgeon told the story of a preacher who was strolling through a
village. As he walked along, he saw a man going down the road with a
herd of pigs following in line behind him like sheep following behind a
shepherd. This was a very unusual sight, because pigs, ordinarily, are
very self-centered, independent creatures that never follow anyone. So
the preacher asked, "Sir, how do you get those pigs to follow you like
that?"
"Oh, it's easy;" the farmer said. "I have a sack full
of peas in my pocket; and I just keep walking, occasionally dropping a pea on
the road behind me. The pigs follow along wherever I drop a pea and
gobble it up, never caring where I'm leading them."
"That's very clever!" said the pastor. "By the way;
where are you leading them?" And the man said, "To the
butcher's shop, of course."
The devil often follows the same strategy. The Bible warns us,
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8; New King James
Version). But he rarely carries a big sign that says, "Follow me,
so I can devour you." He knows we wouldn't follow him if he was
that obvious. Instead, he works subtly to draw us away from God's good
will for our lives.
Just like the farmer in that story, the devil drops little, fleshly
temptations in front of us through the elements of our culture: a
suggestive movie or television show here; an off-color story or inappropriate
joke there; a seductive advertisement or pop song here; a pornographic
magazine or web page there. And if we arenıt alert, we follow along
behind, picking such things up and thinking, "I can handle this.
This isn't so bad. It's just a little pea, after all. It tastes
good. Who's it going to hurt? Who's going to care? Who's
going to know?" We gobble these tempting little "peas"
up, one after another; never realizing that theyıre forming a straight line
that is leading us down a slippery slope to destruction and loss.
The answer that the Bible gives to such things is summed up in one word:
"Flee" (1 Corinthians 6:18). As followers of Jesus Christ,
let's remember the devil's strategy; and by His help, let's "FLEE THE
PEA!"
Greg Allen (BS, 1990; MDiv, 1995) is the pastor of Bethany Bible Church
in Portland, Oregon. He serves on the Seminary Alumni Advisory Council,
and is an adjunct faculty member with the seminary internship program at
Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary
Ğ Alumni
Connection Archive | September
2007, Vol. 5 Issue 9
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