I heard a story told recently about satan training some new imps. He told them to see what they could do to tear down the ministry of a pastor of an up and coming church. They immediately set to work by enticing him with drugs, sex and money but the pastor was impervious to that manner of temptation. When they reported their failure to satan, he told them to step back and he would show them how it is done.
Satan whispered very softly in the pastor's ear, "Your friend from bible college who pastors in the next town was just presented with a new car compliments of his congregation." Immediately, the pastor's contenance changed. Envy started building up within him and he began recounting all of the shortcomings of his once beloved congregation. A few weeks later, the pastor resigned his church.
Many times it is not the blantant temptation that will take us down. We set up protections to keep those things from being a big problem. It is the small, seemingly insignificant event that festers and causes destruction. We need to be on the lookout for those events. If you hear a good report about someone else and your first impulse is to think that that person didn't deserve it, you need to address it to God immediately. If you hear something bad about someone and your first impulse is that they had it coming, you need to address it. Don't let the small things take you down.
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