Invitations to fail

I was thinking further about doors open wide to temptation.... and a six pound bag of gummy worms. The open door image was the result of the backyard gate being left open when we went out of town, and Lucky walking off to freedom. As I was pondering the irresistible siren call of the wild to this dog who hates to be anywhere he is supposed to be, I thought of how much better it would have been if he could have resisted that temptation to walk out of the yard he knew he should have remained in. Yet I knew that was just too great a lure for him to resist. And I thought that God allows, even places open doors like that in our lives. I had once thought it was to torment us, or test us, or prove us. But I think it is perhaps for a different purpose.

Temptations to sin. They are all around us. With all the horrible things a teenager might be tempted to do, my Bible study with Asherel revealed the "open door of temptation" for her- gummy worms.

I had bought a 6 pound bag of gummy worms for her to share with her Science Olympiad team after they finished all their events at the State contest. I know I am a horrible mother and should have been giving them grain fed beef jerky and yogurt...but I gave them 6 pounds of processed, red dyed gummy worms. Anyway, my hope was that it would be consumed by the many families there from our team, and each would get a little. But alas, we returned with at least 4 pounds of gummy worms. The gummy worm bag went in the pantry, and from there it began to whisper.
"Asherel! Asherel! We are here! We are here!"
I saw Asherel hovering near the pantry door, then she reached slowly for the handle as though in a trance.
"Time for Bible study!" I called.
And as we talked about the verses of obedience, of doing what is right, of resisting sin....I thought of my dog and the open gate.
"What are the open gates in your life?" I asked.
Without pause, she said, "Gummy worms."
By now, the 6 pounds of gummy worms were raising quite a ruckus. They were shouting about their sweet delectable fruit flavors, their succulent squishy texture, their beautiful colors.
"You know," I said, "I thought about hiding the gummy worms. I thought perhaps it was cruel to leave them somewhere where you could get at them, when you know you should not eat them on a regular basis and certainly not in that quantity."

She nodded. She knew that there are some temptations beyond her ability to resist.

"However," I said, "I think I won't hide them. I think that sometimes open gates are necessary. It is up to you to choose whether you will walk through them or not. Right now the open gate is a 6 pound bad of gummy worms. When you get to college it will be wider gates with bigger consequences- alcohol, drugs, sex outside the confines of marriage, skipping classes to sleep in....."
I paused thinking of all the damage in my life from the times I did not resist doors I shouldn't have walked through.
"Why do you think God gives us those open doors?"  I asked.
"Well, I guess if we can learn not to walk through them, we grow stronger."
"Yes," I agreed, "I think that is it. If we can learn to resist the little ones, the things like 6 pound bags of gummy worms, then when the big ones come, we will be strong enough to resist them too. And in the end, that will protect us."

Later, Josh showed up so they could fling water balloons just for fun with the 5th place Best in State Trebuchet they had made.
"Hey Asherel!" I called out, as she got slammed with a water balloon, "Why don't you run and get the bag of gummy worms to share with Josh?"

Matthew 26:41

⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”