Determined to do wrong

I was reading an a book where an author was talking about an embarrassing situation he once faced. 

He went to a video store, to find something for he and his friends to watch.  He picked up one video, and from the cover, he knew it probably wasn’t something a Christian should watch. 

But he thought to himself, “Well, it can’t be that bad.  Besides, we’re adults, right?  We can handle a few adult situations and adult language, right?” 

As he was walking to the checkout counter, however, he kept feeling wrong about it. He couldn’t help thinking about how embarrassed he’d feel if someone from his church saw him renting the DVD. 

But he still went to the checkout counter, and when he got there, the clerk looked at his ID. Suddenly her face lit up and said, “Say, aren’t you….?”

He wanted to die.

But how many times do we do the same? 

We know something is wrong. 

We hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

And yet we ignore his voice and do what we want anyway. 

That’s what Balaam did. 

He was asked by Balak, king of the Moabites to curse the Israelites. 

God told Balaam no. 

But when Balak sent him more men and more money to ask him to come, Balaam said, “I’ll think about it.”

God knew that Balaam was determined to go, and so he let him with the condition that he would only say what God commanded. 

But as Balaam went, it seems like he was trying to figure out some way to get around God’s words.

As a result, God set out to stop him.  An angel blocked his way, and of course, we have the famous story of Balaam’s donkey.

God used that incident to impress on Balaam’s mind that there was no way God was going to allow him to curse Israel, and if Balaam tried, he would die.

Many times, we’re like Balaam.  We know what God has said.  But because sin can look so attractive, we look for ways to get around what God has commanded. 

We are so determined to do wrong, that we’re willing to compromise anything in order to do so. 

But if we do so, we will reap the consequences.

All of us are tempted to sin.  But what do we do with that temptation? 

Do we quickly dismiss it? 

Or like Balaam, do we entertain the thought of sin in our hearts? 

Do we look for ways to get around what God has said so that we can do our own thing?

In Ephesians 4:30, it says,

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

We were saved, not to indulge in our sinful desires, but to be set free from them. 

So as Paul also wrote,

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.  (Romans 6:13-14)