It's often difficult to understand why people give in to certain temptations. From our vantage point, their problem should be easy to handle.

We may even wonder how Adam and Eve could have been so foolish as to have thrown aside all that God had given them in the morning of their existence. We would not have fallen so easily--or would we?

Part of the problem is that the tempter wears a disguise when he slithers into our lives. As Mephistopheles says in the drama Faust, "People do not know the devil is there even when he has them by the throat."

The Bible tells us that the serpent was "more cunning than any beast of the field" (Gen. 3:1). No ominous hissing or rattling warned of danger. He didn't ask, "Pardon me, may I have 20 minutes to destroy your life?"

Public Enemy No. 1 uses the same tactics today as he did back then. God's Word warns us that Satan dresses as an angel of light, and his cohorts appear as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15). We must be vigilant to prevent such a crafty deceiver from sneaking into our lives.

Are you loving the things of the world? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to live in close fellowship with Christ (1 Jn. 2:28). Don't be fooled by Satan's disguises.  — Haddon W. Robinson