Trapped!

Read: I Timothy 6

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
I Timothy 6:6-10

When my Uncle John was young, he set traps all over the woods on my grandparent’s farm. Every day, he checked those traps for animals to skin and then sold the pelts. Mink, a rare commodity, were difficult to catch since they would rather chew their foot off than stay in the trap. One day Uncle John caught a mink’s foot. The next day, a second foot appeared in the same trap. And the day after that, another foot. Finally, on the fourth day, he caught a mink minus three feet! Evidently, the bait he was using was too irresistible for that poor little animal.

We are like that mink. Satan puts out traps for us and we wander into them knowing that they will hurt us. The desire for money, power, or fame draws us into acting in ways that would break God’s laws or hurt our relationships with others. I struggle with my aspirations to be recognized for my technical achievements. Because of this, I am sometimes tempted to spend too much time at work, thus depriving my family of my time.

What is your biggest trap? Satan knows how to play on our perceived needs, drawing us again and again to the same trap, eventually hoping to ruin us for God’s service or even, in some cases, to prematurely end our lives. Let’s learn that God supplies everything we need (Philippians 4:19) and see Satan’s traps for what they truly are.