Danger Attracts Us

Written by Vinnie Tumia

I am not a risk-taker. The idea of extreme sports makes me nervous. What many thrill-seeking athletes call exhilarating, I call terrifying. Some people love to live on the edge. The promise of adrenaline pushes them to bigger thrills, taller heights, and greater danger. While not all of us live perilously for recreation, most of us do when it comes to our weaknesses. Rather than running from our kryptonite, we take a front-row seat.

Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Each of us has a deep-seated weakness or tendency toward addictive behavior. It’s a fatal attraction. While the list of options is not endless, we can each have vastly different weaknesses:

• Alcohol
• Eating disorder
• Pornography
• Gossip
• Drugs
• Food
• Popularity and attention from people

Our enemy discovers our destructive desire by watching our habits and times of consistent failure. He is a student of human behavior who tailors temptation to leverage our sinful tendencies.

There is no single solution to avoiding all temptation. Still, God tells of one of the most potent defenses available: limited exposure. He tells us not to make provision for it. In other words, “Don’t hang out at the cliff’s edge.” We like to treat the guard rail as a jungle gym rather than a protection from danger. Unfortunately, our sinful curiosity causes us to jump the fence to see what is beyond.

We should never put ourselves in a place of vulnerability regarding our weaknesses. Yet the rush we feel by teasing ourselves intrigues us.

• We dangle our feet over the edge.
• We hang our shirt on the “Danger: No swimming” sign.
• We poke the hissing snake.

There is something attractive to teasing fate. Our flesh whispers that we can handle it, while our spirit screams for us to run.

Not every opportunity or weakness leads to physical danger, but never doubt the consequence of spiritual danger. We learn this unparalleled warning from the simple man in Proverbs 7. He tempted fate by walking near his kryptonite. He passed the corner where the prostitutes did their work. One approached and quietly convinced him that there was nothing wrong with a short rendezvous. He lingered, and then he caved. 

Our flesh whispers that we can handle it, while our spirit screams for us to run.

The story closes with a sober reality.. The man never realized that, “…it was for his life.” (Proverbs 7:23).

There is no such thing as a harmless visit to our weakness. We should never flirt with a fatal attraction; it will slowly kill our passion for God.