“Boy, are you trying to steal an apple?” That is what the proprietor of the “mom and pop” grocery store said some years ago to a little boy who was standing suspiciously close to the apple barrel. “Are you trying to steal an apple?” The little boy replied, “No, sir. I’m trying not to.” That is sort of a picture of our lives, is it not? How often we make preparations to yield to temptation. Oscar Wilde, the Irish-English author of the last century, who was quite an effete, decorated his room with peacock feathers. He was very scandalous in his life and averred one time, “I can resist everything except temptation.” I suppose that is true of a lot of people. We will see why in a minute. Temptation is very important. We are all very much like tea bags, said John Mason. We are not worth much until we’ve been through some hot water. How true that is. How do we deal with temptation? This message answers that question.
