The Popularity Trap

by Author Unknown, Provided by Student Discipleship Ministries, TX

A man who lives in a wooded area found that his home was overrun with mice. Since there was no way he could kill all of them with traps, he bought several boxes of D-Con and spread the poison around the house, including under his bed. That night he couldn't believe his ears. Below him was a feeding frenzy as the mice fed on the deadly granules. In the morning he checked the box and found it had been licked clean. Just to make sure his plan worked, he bought another box and once again placed the poison under his bed. That night the mice again went for the stuff like they hadn't eaten in a week! In the days that followed, the house grew quiet at night - the poison had done its work.

Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good for us. On the contrary, something may be very popular and at the same time very deadly.

Proverbs 1:8-19 says:

"Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul; let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"--my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it."

How can you apply this passage to temptations you may face this week? How should you respond to those who want you to do something that may be popular but in God's eyes is wrong and harmful.

Thought for Today

"The world didn't creep into the church, the church flung the doors wide open and invited the world in!" - Unknown