Having received a little graduation money recently, I thought it would be good to invest in a new jacket for our ever-changing Tennessee weather. I did a simple online search to see different styles and colors. After briefly looking at a couple of options, I decided to wait until after Christmas before checking local stores or making any actual purchase.

Despite my minimal attention, suddenly new jacket options appeared everywhere. The Internet “knew” I might be in the market for a new jacket, and so advertisements began to appear on my social media, in my email, and in my online shopping offerings. I had not even seen a jacket in-person, much less tried one on or told anyone else of my idea, but my single look brought seemingly unlimited options before my eyes.

A new jacket may be innocent enough, but the same pattern emerges in our own private lives and inward thoughts. You and I are always engaged in an internal dialogue happening within us. Our thoughts are pulling us and pushing us, and unless we seek to guard and guide them, these flights of thought can lead us in directions we do not even fully realize and ultimately would not wish to go.

David encountered this in 2 Samuel 11 when his lingering look at a married neighbor led him, this young woman, his adult children, his kingdom, and his godly influence down a terrible path of death and destruction. The writer of this text, guided by inspiration, carefully notes how there were decisive moments when David could have taken a different road but allowed his spiral to continue- he neglected his duty to be with his army, he refused to look away initially, he did not stop gazing but inquired her identity, he failed to dismiss his passions when his servants warned him, and on and on. Even after the initial sin of adultery, the murder, the cover-up, the late-coming guilt- each should have been a flashing warning sign, but his pride and blindness to his own sin were his downfall. Although David came experience God’s grace and forgiveness, the harm from that seemingly causal walk on his rooftop would haunt his own life and that of his family for generations.

A millennia later, the same Spirit led James to write in his epistle, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15)

The overthrow of our strongly-held beliefs does not happen overnight. The darkness does not need to overwhelm us with the worst of the worst when it comes to temptation; the seeds of doubt, discouragement, and our snares and hang-ups are present in each of us and if we allow them to take root and grow, we all too often find ourselves coping with our pain in unhealthy and unholy ways. The paths that lead to sin are often not striking but subtle, and such temptations prey upon us when we are most worn down and weary.

Each of us will sin and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23), but the off ramps on the highway toward sin are numerous. Ultimately, we cannot blame God or other people or our circumstances for our choices- we must be self-aware enough to see our own weaknesses and humble enough to turn back to God before our sin damages and destroys the very things we hold most dear.