A Thief Among Us

My dog’s food dish was being raided. Every night small rodents left behind unmistakable calling cards. So we set a trap. In the morning the peanut butter was gone and the trap was sprung but empty. So we made the trap more sensitive and set it again. In the morning, the peanut butter was there and so was the mouse.
The mouse had escaped once by a hairbreadth but still did not comprehend the danger.
Cards are evil. Dancing is a sortie of the Devil. Movies are his plaything. And that’s bad. And that’s sinful. And brussels sprouts have demons living inside of them…okay, I may have borrowed that one from the Dark Ages but you get the idea.
It is easy to laugh at what our parents, and their parents, and their parents thought were evil. And easier still to think, “I am more enlightened. Sure all those things can be used for evil but they can also be used for good.” (Except maybe the Brussels sprouts.)
But there is something our fathers from the Middle Ages well recognized – some would say to the point of fanaticism – there is a thief among us and he comes to pillage, kill and destroy. Thus, godly men must be perpetually on guard against giving Satan any foothold. Because whether that foothold takes the form of legalism or permissiveness, it is a trap.
Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed least he fall.