Temptation, from a fish's point of view

Imagine you are a trout swimming around in a beautiful river, water is all around you but you don't know it because the water's always been there, it sustains you, and you've never been without it. We humans are similar to this in that we are surrounded by God's love and presence, it's always been there for us and it sustains us. We can't fathom life without it.

All of our trouty needs are provided by God, life, shelter, food as we swim in this stream. We instinctively know what is edible, what is good for us. We avoid plants, bugs, critters that are not good for us. But one day a NEW, shiny bug lands on the surface, different than anything we've ever seen. We know that we should stick with the items God has provided but, well, we're kinda sick of the same ones all the time. (Remember the Jews blessed with manna from Heaven every morning complained to God because they wanted something different. Would we be any more grateful?)

The shiny new tasty-looking bug skips across the water so temptingly and we can't resist the urge to lunge after it, swallowing it whole. (I remember this exact same feeling when I first started using drugs.) Then we are startled to find this tasty-looking morsel has no real taste, but it does have a hook in it. The hook stabs into us and we instantly know we've made a mistake. A big one. We can't get free; we struggle violently on the end of the line knowing full well that we abandoned God's plan for us and praying silently that God won't abandon us now that we're hooked.

The trout thrashes about giving a clear signal to the other fish that this choice was a huge mistake. The others heed the warning for the most part. If only we humans faced our mistakes with instant humility, how many others would we spare? (Warning, warning... stick with God's plan for your life. Don't go after the things that seem too good to be true. They're false, they're temptations that will lead you down a path of destruction. )

Ah, but here's the rub... We deny we're hooked (whether it be on idolatry of material possessions, drugs, alcohol, all forms of immorality). We pretend it's great, it's everything we hoped for! "Aw, ya! You should try it!!" Can you imagine a fish caught on a line saying, "Ya, this lure tastes excellent! Try it!" only to watch another fish suffer his same fate?

How can we humans be less humane than God's other creatures? Pridefulness. We refuse to admit our sins, our mistakes. We feel we can fix them for ourselves without God's help. This is where Jesus calls us to be like little children in our innocence. Admit our mistakes and depend on Him fully.