Temptation

When I was a youth pastor in New England, I used to take my group to a retreat weekend deep in the mountains of New Hampshire. One of the hidden gems was the tubing hill. It was a bit of a trek. You would get all bundled up, and walk for like a half mile into the woods, through 2 feet of snow. Just when you felt like you were lost, you would come to an opening in the forest, where an amazing slope had been carved out. What made the tubing hill so thrilling was that it was so unsafe. There were trees on either side, it had a rough surface, and the grade was very steep. To top it off, if you actually made it all the way down without falling off the tube, you would end up on a frozen pond. Whether or not the ice would hold you up was anybody’s guess.

I loved this hill.

But the hill has now come to represent a metaphor—a picture of temptation. The three stages of tubing show us something about how sin works. They are the same stages found in James 1:14-15:

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Desire
At the top of the massive hill we look down. We contemplate whether or not we should go through with it. But it always looks too awesome to back out. Plus, other people are doing it. Eventually, we decide to sit on the tube and push off.
Sin
Once sliding down the hill, the exhilaration is palpable. The wind whips on your face. You start to feel like you are going to fall off. This is the fun part. You should probably bail out now so that you don’t reach the frozen pond below.
Death
If you made it this far, you missed the bail out. The frozen pond is in view. You wonder if it will hold you up. You hope it will. You hope you won’t die today.

All of us face temptation. It’s only by God’s grace that we avoid failure. The next time your find yourself at the top of the hill, pray. And then take your tube and go home.