by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Twice in this chapter (II Peter 2), Peter writes of brethren being enticed (II Peter 2:14, 18). Only James uses this word when he wrote that “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust<\/em>” ( James 1:14)<\/p>\n Louw Nida wrote in their definition of this word: “to lure or entice someone to sin.” They continue that the word “may often be translated as ‘to make sinning look attractive’ or ‘to make sin taste good’ or ‘to wave sin in front of a person’s nose.'” A closely related word means to ‘bait’, as when fishing.<\/p>\n I have never been much of a fisherman (usually doing a lot of fishing but little catching), but even I know an empty hook is unlikely to catch much of anything except snags. So, we ‘bait the hook’. Such baiting takes on almost epic proportions of study, thought, and trying by avid fishermen. All of this simply to find out what fish like!<\/p>\n So it is with us; our enemy’s two main weapons are deception and temptation. He tests us by using our own desires as the bait!<\/p>\n The key then is simple: change what you desire! It is hard to be enticed by ‘fleshly desires and sensuality’ if <\/strong>your heart is completely set upon living with God. Think of Joseph being tested by Potiphar’s wife, but he was not ‘enticed’. The bait was set before him, but he didn’t bite! He had greater <\/strong>desires. Or think of Moses, who had all the pleasures of Egypt’s sin set before him, but his greater desire to live with God kept him from being enticed by such sin.<\/p>\n How foolish it is, then, to live a godly life by allowing ourselves to live in the same old environment as before and learning to say ‘no’. While we must indeed learn to say no to such bait, the greater and more effective solution is to change our very desire concerning such. We learn to love what God loves and to hate what God hates.<\/p>\n Seriously, what entices you? What desires fill your heart?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Twice in this chapter (II Peter 2), Peter writes of brethren being enticed (II Peter 2:14, 18). Only James uses this word when he wrote that “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” ( James 1:14) Louw Nida wrote in their definition of this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-98621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-sin"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9104,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-evil-comes-from-within-what-difference-does-it-make-if-there-is-a-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":0},"title":"If evil comes from within, what difference does it make if there is a devil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you would help me with a question on the subject of the Devil, I would be grateful to you. If evil comes from within, as stated in Mark 7:18-23 and James 1:14-15, what difference does it make if there is a real devil or not? Answer: If you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-hope-to-catch\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":1},"title":"What Do You Hope to Catch?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Mark 6:31-44 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What you hope to catch determines the type of bait you use \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A worm may land you a fish, but it probably won\u2019t lure a mouse into a trap \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even in fishing, there are different baits to be used for different fish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96559,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/being-sensible\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":2},"title":"Being Sensible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong Be Sensible! Paul demanded this of older men (Titus 2:2), younger women (Titus 2:5), and younger men (Titus 2:6), and then of all disciples (Titus 2:12). But what does that mean? Basically, it means to have a sound, self-controlled, well-governed mind that produces wise, restrained, godly behavior.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-your-right-hand-causes-you-to-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":3},"title":"If Your Right Hand Causes You to Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jesus talked about \"causing\" ourselves or others to sin, and in making His point cut deep, He showed that retaining sin is far more serious than cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye (Matthew 5:27-30). You can go to heaven without a hand or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hand-300x200.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-works-of-the-flesh\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":4},"title":"The Works of the Flesh","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sunday Ayandare via Words Of Life, Vol. 16, No. 1, Jan-Mar. 2009. We live in perilous times. Morals have degenerated to an abysmally low level. One could be tempted to say that the situation has reached its nadir. Reminiscent of the days of old, men are today calling evil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55971,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-hoodwinked\/","url_meta":{"origin":98621,"position":5},"title":"Don’t be Hoodwinked!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Allen Dvorak via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 10, Mar. 9, 2008. Our word \"hoodwinked\" is actually a falconry term. We use it to mean \"to deceive,\" but Webster notes that the word also means \"to blind by covering the eyes.\" The falconer must hoodwink his falcon. At the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/HoodedPeregrine-212x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98621"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98625,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98621\/revisions\/98625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}