Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family. Let them hold you back from an affair with an immoral woman, from listening to the flattery of an adulterous woman. . . . Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death. - Proverbs 7:4-5, 27

Seduction wears many dresses, all of them attractive. Sometimes her dress is sexy. Other times it reeks of money. Some days she wears her power suit. Seduction is all about money, sex, and power.

Seduction has to wear heavy makeup to hide the blemishes. She wishes to convey a message that is fundamentally false. She presents her message well—sweet as honey, smoother than oil, laden with flattery, and offering great reward for little expense.

“Come with me,” says seduction in her pricey dress. “I can offer you a deal that will make you rich. No risk, no questions asked, no downside, only profit. Together we’ll laugh all the way to the bank.” And the seductive words work. Hadn’t he been particularly chosen for this opportunity because of his unique abilities? Wasn’t this deal especially for him because he had been such a good friend? The offer is too good to be true—because it isn’t true. Smart as he is, seduction makes him like a “simpleminded young man who lacked common sense” (7:7).

Later, seduction comes to the man dressed to kill, alluringly perfumed and whispering promises of unimaginable delights. Does he need to be assured that his manhood is not diminished, that he is still attractive? She says she finds him irresistible, and her husband is away so nobody will know. To salve his conscience, she assures him that she, too, is religious: “I’ve offered my sacrifices and just finished my vows” (7:14). So he goes with her, “like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life” (7:23).

Later, seduction comes offering power at a bargain price. Just cut a couple of corners and the resulting prestige and position will place him among the movers and the shakers. Just think how much good he can do there! It’s an offer he cannot refuse.

But he should refuse, because embracing seduction leads to sin. And “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). So seduction’s pretty dress becomes a burial shroud. “Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death” (Prov. 7:27).

The wise man knows enough to refuse seduction’s blandishments. He embraces God’s instructions, he orders his life according to the dictates of his Lord, and he stands strong in the power of the Spirit. In standing, the wise man is strengthened in resolve and character, in reputation and honor.

For Further Study: Proverbs 7:1-27

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Men, Copyright ©2000 by Stuart Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Stuart Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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