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Public Enemy - SIN

by Jerry Ousley  
12/02/2011 / Christian Living

As a kid I thought that it would be exciting to be an FBI agent. What young boy doesn't dream of being a tough good guy who catches the public enemy? I'd be a hero to the entire nation for ridding it of all those criminals and the world could rest knowing that I was on the job. Only, I wasn't so tough. In fact, as a child I was the skinny nerdy kid with glasses. I was four-eyes who couldn't see a thing it seemed without those glasses! I was the one picked on by all the big boys. But it didn't keep me from dreaming. I even got into a few fights and scrapes and narrowly escaped with my life!

When I was fifteen I gave my life to the Lord tee-totally, once and for all! From that day forward my desire changed from wanting to be an FBI tough guy to fighting a greater public enemy SIN!

Sin is the greatest enemy of mankind. Of course the devil is our enemy as well but even he can't force us to sin. He does a bang up job at tempting us. He is always out to convince people that sin is the best thing for them. He disguises it as "fun," dresses it as the "in thing to do" and paints it up to look appealing. "What's the harm?" he asks us and in turn we ask ourselves the same thing. But he can only tempt and suggest. When it comes right down to it we have to make the final choice. Once we are caught in the trap then we find ourselves in a very difficult situation. It is often extremely hard to get out and when we do it seems we barely escape with our lives.

Jesus told the story of one young man who discovered these truths first hand. We refer to the story as that of "The Prodigal Son." Here was a young man who thought he had life all figured out. He knew exactly what to do. He'd go to his father who was rich, and ask for his portion of the inheritance now. Why wait until dear old dad was dead? If he got it now he could invest it and be a rich man himself before Dad was gone. Wouldn't his father be proud of him and wouldn't he get a better return for his investment to actually see his son making it big? Of course Jesus didn't emphasis these things; it's just me reading between the lines.

It would be good to get out on his own. He would no longer be under the strict rules of his father and he would be free to make his own decisions and choices. He thought he had it all figured out. Why the father agreed to allow his son to receive his portion of the inheritance and depart I'll never know. If that had been my son I'd have given him a very profound "NO" for an answer. But this was a wise father and knew pretty much what was going to happen.

So the young man struck out. He traveled to another place, quickly made some friends (which is not hard to do when you've got money and are a big spender) and lived it up in what the Bible calls "riotous living." He partied nearly every night until the day came when the money ran out. Funny how hard it is to earn and how long it takes to get, yet how fast it goes when the time comes to spend it. Once the money well had dried up all of his so-called friends went with it. Suddenly he found himself alone and broke. How was he going to live now? How was he going to get by? He decided to find employment and earn the money to replace what he had lost except the only job he could find was feeding the hogs of some rich farmer and the pay was being able to eat what the hogs ate! I'd say there weren't many standing in line for that job!

After some time he looked at himself one day, his clothes were tattered, dirty and smelly. He had lost so much weight (again reading between the lines) that his pants were nearly falling off. What was going to become of him? But wait, he remembered his father's house and the servants there. They were all better off than he was. That's what he would do; he would return to his father and ask for a job as one of his hired servants. Yes, that was the answer!

But as we read the story we see that his father had been watching for him. He met his son, put a ring on his hand and allowed him to clean up and put on some nice fresh clothing. He threw a celebration killing the fatted calf because his son had finally come home.

Sin will do that to us. That's why it is our greatest public enemy. It will destroy us. But our Father waits for us. When we come to Him He will throw His arms around us, clean us up and dress us in the robe of righteousness. Then what a celebration we will have as we are finally free from our greatest public enemy SIN!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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