If Sinners Entice Thee, Consent Thou Not

Proverbs 1:10, “[10] My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

This is a short verse, but it is one that is so vital in the life of a Christian. The word entice in this verse is to, “attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage.” Sin oftentimes will entice us. It will look fun and enjoyable. The Bible even said that there is pleasure in sin for a season. However, sin will never tell you the entire story beforehand. It won’t tell you of the hurt it brings. It won’t tell you of the sufferings. It won’t tell you of the scars it will leave on your life. Regardless of who we are, there will be times when sin will entice us.

This leads into the second part of the verse where it says, “Consent thou not.” Consent means to give, “permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.” When it comes to sin, we always have a choice. When we sin, it’s because we made a choice to do so. We consented to it. When the temptation of sin comes, we must decide that we are not going to give consent. We must determine that we will not give in. We must determine to do what is right.

The best way to do this is the make the decision before you have to make the decision. What do I mean by that? I mean that we must decide beforehand that we will not sin before the opportunity to sin presents itself.

Job is a great example of this. Job 31:1 says, “[1] I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” I do not believe Job made this decision when a woman passed by him. I believe he made the decision earlier in his life that he would not think wickedly about a woman.

Another example is Daniel. When the Babylonians tried to get Daniel to break his diet, the Bible says in Daniel 1:8, “[8] But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” I do not believe that Daniel made the decision right then and there. I believe he made this decision long before he ever arrived in Babylon.

These are just two examples of deciding before we have to decide. Consenting to sin or purposing not to sin is a decision that we will have to make sooner or later. Deciding sooner is easier and will make saying no to sin that much less difficult. If there’s a sin with which you struggle, purpose today that you won’t consent to it. Ask the Lord to help you. Remember, He is on your side! Let us strive today that when sin entices us, we will not consent!