We had more trick-or-treaters come by our house last night than we’ve ever had.

It might have been because it was a pleasantly warmish evening. It might have been because the skies were clear. It might have been the fact that we were handing out whole candy bars and not the typical funsize stuff. I’m leaning toward that last one.

Everyone dressed up.
Everyone said thank you.
Everyone was nice.

I remember living in Memphis and having “kids” come by with pillow cases. They were dressed in school clothes and when they said trick or treat they meant it. “Give us a treat…or get a rock through your window.” So yeah…last night was nice.

Also nice was the oodles of candy our kids came home with. Naturally we took their spoils as soon as they walked in the door and are prepared to dole it out, piecemeal, from now until Thanksgiving. Naturally also they were furious at this news, as though it’s not been the policy of the Martin house from the beginning. Simply put, the wife and I understand that you can’t trust kids with candy…especially not with candy they have a partially-legitimate claim to.

And why not?

Because they will eat…and they will eat, and they will eat eat eat EAT. They will eat till their teeth rot and their insides ache. I know: I used to be a child. I remember smuggling my Halloween goodies into my room and eating them that evening. I woke up before sunrise feeling terrible. And my mother—never the compassionate one—forced me to go to school because I wasn’t actually sick.

Now then…spiritual application time:

You see the good tasting thing. It looks good. It smells good. It probably tastes good. So you take a bite. You weren’t supposed to. But you “just couldn’t help it” you say. On the contrary, you could have helped it..you just didn’t want to. And because you indulged when you were told to abstain, you pay a terrible price…

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:1-6, 23-24

Sin looks good. And for a brief moment it often tastes very good too. But keep at it and eventually you will suffer the consequences of indulgences.