A few nights ago, my housemates and I grilled out at a park and stayed until it was dark enough to break out our light-up Frisbee. The cool forest air surrounded the worn grass field and kindled memories of growing up in North Dakota and games of capture the flag and camping out.

It was on a similarly beautiful night in middle school that my friend Brandon decided to have a sleepover in his backyard. Brandon was from Ames, Iowa, and he had a little southern accent which I always thought was cool. He invited me over, and I showed up with my purple and green mummy bag, ready for a night of roughing it in the backyard. To my surprise, as I unzipped the tent doors, there were girls in the tent. Several girls. Popular girls. I hesitantly grabbed a spot on the nylon floor and nursed my conscience as I pondered what to do.

We all sat in a circle as we played truth or dare and spin the bottle. I remember thinking, I need to leave. And yet I was curiously intrigued about the prospect of sleeping coed. It was against the rules, but it was a summer night and they were GIRLS.

Now I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure Brandon’s grandma chased the girls away when she caught wind of what was happening. But that night had already changed me. It changed the way I viewed sin because I had seen its allure and I knew then that my friends and I were beginning to take different paths. And while my backyard encounters with PG sexuality seem trite, I realize now just what a great picture of temptation it is.

Our flesh loves all that is off-limits and pleasurable. Temptation seems to lure us into a place where we lose all perspective and forget that God (or Grandma) knows everything. The truth is that I’ve never slipped something past God even once and the miracle is that he still loves me despite all my failings. This supernatural forgiveness should instill a healthy fear of God because I know that I’ve been spared by the ransom of Christ. But God, in his mercy, still lets me approach the throne of grace with confidence -- even though I did have a purple sleeping bag.

Psalm 130:3-4
“If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”