Their Momma Laughed

There was a family of parents plus five boys living near our house in my growing-up years. We heard that the two oldest boys, about ten and twelve years of age at the time, stole a box of cereal from a nearby mom-and-pop grocery store.  They came home with the cereal, told their mother, and she LAUGHED AT THEM.  "It's just a small thing," she told them.

My own mother didn't think it was a small thing at all.  She told me and my three younger brothers, "You watch.  Those boys will never amount to a thing.  They'll end up in jail."  And she was right.

When they got to be teens, the boys started stealing hubcaps off of cars. They thought it was great fun.  I never heard if their mother laughed at that.  Then the boys 'graduated' to stealing cars and got caught.  The two older ones ended up in jail.  I doubt if their mother laughed at that. Sure, the boys had a dad but apparently he just worked and came home and never said much.

All of our big temptations start out in exactly the same way: we are tempted to do small, bad things.  We know it's wrong but, what the heck, it's a small thing, no one will know or care.  And we get started down the slippery slide of major wrong things, "sins."

Wherever our weaknesses lie, that's where our temptations will come.  Are we tempted to "pad" an expense account on our income tax statements?  We need to avoid the lies.  Pure and simple: don't get started; it will ALWAYS escalate!

Do we carelessly flirt with our best friend's husband or wife?  Oh, it's harmless!  He (or she) knows I don't mean anything!  But what if the other person is very lonely and vulnerable and takes you seriously?  Are you going farther?  She's home alone today; why don't I go over and keep her company?  Wrong!  You don't want ADULTERY on your conscience!  Just don't get started!

What about workplace gossip?  Do you jump in with your sword-words and injure the person who's not there to defend herself?  Do you sit idly by and just don't say anything?  Lies, once cast out, are impossible to retrieve.  Just don't get started!

Do you dress like the slut of the universe and tempt others to "impure thoughts?" Close to Halloween I tore out a cartoon in the newspaper thinking, "This is so true.  I might use it someday."  It depicted two females dressed like "ladies of the night," watching a young trick-or-treater pass.  The young one was wearing a "nurse" costume with an extremely low neckline and extremely short skirt.  One of the ladies of the night commented, "Halloween is insulting to those of us who dress like tramps all year long."  Well said!  Have you seen what pass for high school students these days?  The comment might apply to them on days other than Halloween.  Watch your young ones and don't allow risque clothing.  You don't know WHO they might tempt!

One time my late Uncle Robert commented that there had been a string of rapes committed on a section of a main street in his small town.  He said that "the girls parading down the street are just asking for it.  They dress like hookers."  Sure, I know, rape is supposed to be a "power" thing, on the part of the perpetrator. But surely passion and availability play a part.

Let's vow: we won't give in to our temptations to sin, and we won't cause others to sin by our actions.

Lord, in our heart of hearts, we don't want to hurt others.  Please help us recognize temptations to do evil when they come to us.  We know you will give us the strength to resist them.  We just won't get started!