Key scripture- “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason.’ …But these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.” (Proverbs 1:10-11).

Are you ambushing your own life?

Enticement to sin can come from many different sources. It can come from within, from your own sin nature, tempting you during those moments when you are weak. Or it can come from the secular world we live in–from television or the Internet or magazines or books. Or it can come from people inviting us to join them in doing something we know is wrong. They might even promise “to fill your houses with plunder, if you throw in your lot with theirs” (Proverbs 1:13-14).

When that enticement comes, God wants you to see in this passage from Proverbs that there is more involved than just doing something wrong or not doing it. If you choose to do what you know offends God, you are seriously injuring your own spiritual life because you are ambushing yourself. Don’t just think about whether you should or shouldn’t do that sinful thing, instead consider how it will affect your walk with God, because walking the wrong way “takes away the life of the possessor” (Proverbs 1:19). It breaks your fellowship with God, because in order to walk with God you must walk in righteousness, which is acting in a upright moral way.

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

So the next time that you are confronted with the sin that is trying so hard to entice you, and there will be a next time, make up your mind today what you are going to choose: life or death; righteousness or evil?

“Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright” (Proverbs 20:11).

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, lead me in Your paths of righteousness, make Your way straight before me, because I do not want any sin to come between You and me. I know that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. If I set my mind on the flesh that is death, because a mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, but if I set my mind on the Spirit that is life and peace because I submit to Your Word. I am not in the flesh but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in me and the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:5-11). Father, help me to set my mind on the things of the Spirit. Give me instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity. (Proverbs 1:3). I know that righteousness and justice are more acceptable to You than sacrifice. I know that righteousness will keep my way straight and deliver me. I want to be steadfast in righteousness and live, because the path of righteousness is life and the path of evil is death. (Proverbs 12:19). I want to walk upright and blameless. I want to walk with You all the days of my life. In the Name of Jesus, who leads me in paths of righteousness, I pray, Amen.