Brownies Proverbs 20:9

9 Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"?


As Christians we don't like sin but we don't mind temptation! Who among us can say, "I am pure from my sin?" We try to rationalize and excuse our sin when we know deep down in our hearts, this is not at all what we need or even really want in our lives.

One of the best illustrations of flirting with sin that I have ever heard comes from James Dobson's daughter, Danae. I listened to Focus on the Family's broadcast today and heard Danae and her dada talk about a recent book that she had written. She told of one of the stories in her book for teen girls.

She told a story of a father who raised his children not to go to R rated movies because they needed to keep their minds pure and not put bad things into their minds. The kids were in their mid teens and a very popular movie came out and all their friends were going to go to the movie. They wanted to go. The movie had an R rating. They knew their dad's rule and so they began to build a case to present to their father about going.

They interviewed friends at church that had seen the movie. They found out that there was some cursing in it but not that much. There was some violence in it but nothing that they had not seen on television at home. There was a steamy scene but no nudity or sex; the sex was mostly hinted to and left to the imagination. The movie was not that bad. They wrote down all the bad things and all the good things about the movie that they could gather and then they went to their dad with their request, "Please dad just this once, can we go see this movie; all of our friends are going and it is not that bad."

The dad listened to their request and their argument and asked to think about it overnight. The teens were elated! They had presented their case and they knew that their dad would grant their wish. The next day the dad called a family meeting to announce his decision.

"I have thought about your request. I will let you make the final decision on whether or not you go to this movie. I made you some brownies. If you decide to eat these brownies you can go to the movie." Wow! That is easy enough; we love brownies!

The dad said before you eat these brownies, let me tell you how I made them. I carefully whipped the ingredients together. I have added nuts and some extra chocolate; I know how much you like chocolate. I have added some powered sugar to make the brownies look better and be a little sweeterbut I have to tell you there is a little dog poop in there. Not much, but it is mixed in there so that you will not know it.

I cooked the brownies at 350 degrees so the heat will have killed anything in the brownies that would hurt you. There is nothing to worry about ok, who wants a brownie?

Sin is subtle. It is well hidden. It won't hurt us. It is surrounded by so much wonderful stuff. Who wants to take the first bite?