Trick or Treat
THE DEVIL TRIES TO TRICK US BY MAKING WRONG CHOICES LOOK GOOD AND BY MAKING RIGHT CHOICES LOOK HARD.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Hebrews 10:32-36
Verse of the Day: “Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36).
Sara couldn’t believe her luck! She and her friend Chris were in the girls’ locker room the afternoon before a regional cheerleading competition. “Look,” Chris said. “That’s Tammy’s uniform!”
Sara looked in disbelief at the folded uniform on the locker room bench. She pivoted her head from side to side and saw that she and Chris were alone. “This is your chance!” Chris said.
Sara knew exactly what Chris meant. Tammy was the one who had started a fight that had gotten Sara suspended from school-and grounded-right before the prom. Sara had wanted to get even with her rival ever since then. This was the chance she’d been waiting for.
“All you’ve got to do,” Chris whispered, “is get out of here with Tammy’s uniform. If her uniform disappears, she’s out of the competition!”
“It would serve her right for all she’s done to me, wouldn’t it?” Sara said. It was so tempting. It would feel so good to get even with Tammy.
Chris said, “If you don’t do this, you’ll regret it forever.”
Sara still hesitated. She knew hiding Tammy’s uniform would be satisfying-at least for a while. And if she didn’t do it, she’d probably never get a chance like this again. But there was another consideration; she also knew it would be wrong.
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head.
“Don’t be stupid!” Chris said. “You know that Tammy would do it to you if she had the chance. Come on!”
Sara reached for Tammy’s uniform and picked it up. It would feel so good to get even with her, she thought. But then she dropped the uniform as if it were on fire.
“I can’t do it,” she told Chris.
“How can you pass up a chance like this?” Chris pleaded.
Sara knew she had passed up a one-in-a-million chance to get even with a rival. She knew Chris probably thought she was crazy. But even though getting even with Tammy might feel good, she knew that it would be wrong. So she turned and walked out of the locker room.
TO DISCUSS: Do you think Sara made the right choice? If so, why? Sometimes the wrong choice seems to be the one that would “feel good,” and the right choice seems to be the hard choice. Why do you think that is? If Sara had hidden Tammy’s uniform, what good or bad things might have happened to Sara? What good or bad things might result from Sara’s right choice?
TO PRAY: “The thought of doing wrong seems so attractive sometimes, dear Lord. We need your perspective and strength to say no to sin.”