Temptation

I am really enjoying reading Boyhood and Beyond: Practical Wisdom for Becoming a Man, by Bob Schultz, to my boys each morning as we begin school. This is an excellent book with good advice for boys about manhood presented in a down-to-earth engaging way. This morning we read the chapter titled, “Temptation.” Here’s a quote:

Temptations are invitations to do evil. Everyone receives them. Each temptation invites you to destroy your life. Every invitation to do evil, no matter how small, is designed to destroy some valuable part of you. Temptations look good, but they always contain a lie. They don’t tell all the truth. (57)

Schultz then gives a good example of a boyish temptation and the various ideas which might come to mind making it attractive. He then points out that these tempting thougth are lies and then re-presents the temptation pointing out what is actually true in each point such as:

You will feel guilty even if you don’t get caught

You will lose your good name, your parents’ confidence, etc.

What you think is funny may actually bring real pain into someone else’s life and you have not paused to think about what is going on in their life.

This is a great book which has prompted many good conversations for us- and we’re not half way though the book yet!