[Steve Myers] Do you like to fish? There's a passage in the Bible that points to fishermen to relay an important point. It's over in the book of James – it's in James, the very first chapter and in verse 14. Now, when we read this verse, it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with fishing or hunting, but it actually does.

It says in James 1:14, "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed." Now what does that have to do with hunting and fishing? Well, the word for "drawn" is actually from a word that means "a lure" – like a lure that you'd use when you fish. You tie that lure around the end of your line and you throw it out there, and what happens? As that lure sinks into the water and the weed beds where those fish are, it pulls out those fish – it lures those fish, it tempts those fish, it draws those fish in till what happens? Till they're tempted and they go for that lure and then you've got them hooked, and you can just reel them right in.

And so James uses this language of hunting and fishing in order to make a point about our own selves. He says that we're not tempted by God – we are tempted by our own lusts, our own desires. So we've got to make sure that we do – and what James reminds us of is the fact that we cannot allow ourselves to be seduced by the lures of this world. And boy, we know there are powerful forces out there that are fishing for us. Don't allow that to happen. Don't be taken in by that. Let's be sure that we're ready to exert self-control in every situation so that we're not tempted, we're not drawn away, we're not lured in. And if we can do that, we can certainly be safe among the power of God.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.