Avoiding the hole

Today I was reminded about an analogy about temptation/sin scenarios that you may recognise in life.

STAGE 1 -

A person walks down a road. They fall into a large ditch. It takes a long time to get out. The person keeps walking.

STAGE 2 -

A person walks down a road. They see the hole. They still fall into the ditch. It takes less time to get out. The person keeps walking.

STAGE 3 -

A person walks down a road. They see the hole. They still fall into the ditch, but immediately get out. The person walks away annoyed.

STAGE 4 -

A person walks down a road. They see the hole. They walk around.

STAGE 5 -

The person chooses a different road.

When i look at my life i recognise all of these stages. Times when i have stumbled, seemingly unknowingly, into sin. Times when i have tripped over the same stupid things repeatedly. Times when I've been annoyed with myself that I've one again failed.

But thankfully, i can also see times when I've made the a smarter choice and avoided the temptation altogether.