Episode Details

Prayer

Dear Lord, I thank you and praise you for this new day. In this world with devils filled, which threatens to undo me, I cast myself upon you O Lord. You are my rock, my salvation, my only hope. You are my strength, and you are my Saviour. Rescue me, O Lord, from the mighty waters. Please forgive me for my many sins, and lead me in the way everlasting. Please make me to walk in the way of your commands, and to utterly forsake sin. Deliver me, I pray, from this body of death. My soul looks up to you, please feed me now with the daily food of your word. Give us this day our daily bread, give us Christ. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Reading

Prov 1:10 - “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”

Meditation

Proverbs 1:10 is also a warning against worldly enticements. “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” First question: What does it mean to entice? For a sinner to entice us means, in the words of Pastor Al Martin, that they attempt to lead us into sin by persuasion or subtlety. It means that they will attempt to attract you into sin by offering the hope of reward or pleasure. Satan in the garden of Eden is the original example of this. God had said: “Do not eat of the tree”. As 1 John teaches us, sin is lawlessness, and so Satan tried to entice her to disobey God. He persuaded her, he used subtlety to hide the danger. He made sin look attractive through deception. When a sinner seeks to entice a believer, it always follows the same Satanic pattern. Sin, which is destructive, is made to look attractive – that’s an enticement.

Let me put it this way: enticement is a piece of chocolate mud cake filled with rat poison. We need to be aware of this danger. We live in a world where sinners will try to entice us, and they will not be passive, they will be actively trying to entice us to sin. Solomon knows this, and he warns his son in advance. Expect to face temptations. Be on the look out for them, and especially be aware of the points in your life where you engage with unbelievers.

Be ye doers of the word…

What times during your week are you engaging with unbelievers? Hold those times in your mind now, then consider this follow up question: Do they tempt me to sin? Do my colleagues lead me in to conversations about things that I shouldn’t talk about? Do my school mates lead me into bullying or lazy behaviour? Do my online conversations draw me into sin? Am I having private text messages with anyone leading me into temptation? Do conversations with my unbelieving neighbour entice me into gossiping?

I think that one of the biggest sources of worldly enticement that we face today comes through entertainment media. The movies we watch, the books we read, articles, games, apps, social media contacts, and the list goes on. As a simple word of warning: be careful about what you consume when it comes to entertainment media. Now maybe you don’t see the connection here. Why am I warning you about what to watch when verse ten is talking about sinners enticing us? If we’re watching a movie, we’re not being enticed, we’re just watching a movie, aren’t we? We’re in the privacy of our own home!

In response to that objection, we need to realise that face to face contact is not the only form of communication or influence. When we watch or read something, we are communing in a sense with that person. We are being exposed to the way they think and feel about the world. You read a book by the puritans and, in a sense, you’re taking the puritans to be your companions. You watch a tv series written and produced by unbelievers and, in the same way, you’re inviting those people into your mind and heart. Entertainment media is a powerful tool for the world to use to entice us. As we soak up hours of Netflix, it’s having an effect on us, there’s no question about it.

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