Each one is tempted when he is drawn away
by his own desires and enticed.
—James 1:14
George D. Abraham (1872–1965), author of The Complete Mountaineer, noted that the majority of climbing fatalities occur on the easy tracks: “The steep and narrow passes, where the brain reels, where the foothold is precarious, and where the poise of the body is difficult, clamour loudly for special care. But the easy tracks have a peril of their own.”
So it is with life. We move cautiously along the edge of the cliffs of temptation, but our stride may become reckless on the broader paths.
Moral collapse sometimes comes at an age when we think we have passed the vulnerable period of youthful enticement.
Who can forget David: as a youth, facing a giant, rising so high—and years later, facing a moral challenge, sinking so low?
“Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12).
Be cautious. You may not be as
strong as you think you are.