(This week features five observations from 30 years in an NFL locker room.)

A longtime chaplain in the NFL was often asked about the athletes on his team who had all the opportunities for success, but their lives were a mess, from their marriages to their finances to their morals. How could people with such great resources waste their opportunities like this? 

This team chaplain had a simple response: We are all just two decisions away from disaster. 

That is a sobering, humbling thought. Life can be pretty fragile. Think about it — where would two bad decisions take you?

I can’t find anywhere in the Scriptures that lists fame and fortune as building blocks for spiritual maturity. Rather than providing wisdom, fame and fortune usually complicate life. Fame and fortune can make people feel like they have less need to depend on God, setting them up for a potential shipwreck.  

Consider today’s Scripture passage. It is when we think that we are least likely to sin that we are the most vulnerable to falling. 

Before we began a relationship with God, we were not able to not sin. When we put our faith in Him and became a Christian, He gave us a new nature. The power of sin was broken, enabling us to choose not to sin.  

The apostle Paul makes it clear in his letter to the believers in Corinth. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Temptation will never go away on this earth. So, Jesus calls us to make right decisions, trust Him for empowerment and walk in obedience. 

Tom Petersburg  | www.catapultministries.org