Wherever our feet carry us, we can sin. Even our hands are subject to where our feet travel: “Make level paths for our feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:26-27).
The third of the three pathways that temptation flows is roundtrip from our hearts to our flesh (see 1 John 2:16). This bait includes the misuse or abuse of food, drugs, alcohol, sexual acts outside marriage, or other abuses of the body.
Deceitfully disguised in the bait is sin’s hook. Solomon warned about the feet of the adulteress: “Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave” (Proverbs 5:5). He continued saying parenthetically: “She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home” (Proverbs 7:11). The irony of an adulterous relationship with either an inanimate object or a person is that it never truly satisfies our desire because it lies outside God’s design for our lives.
When we sin, Satan accuses us before God and others. He claims that our feet were quick to rush into sin (see Proverbs 1:16). Referencing adultery, Solomon included in his diatribe: “Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished” (Proverbs 6:28-29).
The destruction is embedded in the sinker that God hates feet that are quick to rush into evil (see Proverbs 6:18).
Sin begins with our feet when we walk toward a temptation with the desire to take it. During the next two weeks, think about whether you are walking toward temptation. It might be a cubicle that you should avoid, a location you should pass by, or an object you should run from.
If you are a parent of a teenager, be proactive in his or her dating relationships. Indiana University Medical Center research shows that 41 percent of girls age 14 to 17 who have sex say they do so in order to keep their boyfriend from becoming angry. The temptation for a teenage girl and boy to walk where they should not go is strong. Consequently, we must guide them in straight paths by investing wisdom — God’s heart combined with street smarts — into their lives.
Episode 68: Guard Your Heart Against Satan's Schemes from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.