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Key Bible Verses: I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong … but I can't help myself (Romans 7:16–17). Bonus Reading: James 1:13–16

On my eighth birthday my parents gave me a BB gun. This beautiful gun and I formed a deadly partnership. Cans, bottles, road signs—nothing was safe from us. Well, almost nothing.

One afternoon I took aim at a bird perched in the willow tree in our backyard. Just as I was about to squeeze the trigger, my sister, Patsy, ran into the yard waving her arms and yelling. As the bird fluttered away, her smug smile as good as taunted, "Ha! Ha! I showed you who's in charge around here."

Something inside took control. I lowered the barrel and aimed at my sister. A look of horror replaced her smug confidence, and she took off at a full run. Sit on this! I thought as I aimed and pulled the trigger. The BB found its mark. She grabbed her posterior and darted into the house screaming, "I've been shot! I've been shot!" For a moment I wondered what had made me do something so cruel—then I realized how much I enjoyed it.

My dad disciplined me and confiscated my gun. But while he could take away the tools I used for evil, he wasn't able to take away that dark side of my personality that enjoyed doing wrong.

—Bill Perkins in When Good Men Are Tempted

My Response: When have I enjoyed doing something wrong?

Thought to Apply: We are not stray sheep or wandering prodigals even, but rebels taken with weapons in our hands. —P. T. Forsyth (British pastor and educator)

Adapted from When Good Men Are Tempted (Zondervan, 1997) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Forgive me, my Savior, for my denial of, or my cavalier attitude toward, my sins that cost You Your life.

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