I recently bought a new car. My Impala had been good to me, but after eight years it was time to say goodbye.

I found a 2016 model that was still brand new, and made a deal I thought was quite fair. I hope it will be another long-term friendship.

I drove the car to Atlanta last month to my dad’s home. He had recently mentioned that it might be time to replace his 2003 Buick. My dad is slow to spend that kind of money. He knows the value of a dollar, and is extremely careful not to overspend.

Still, when he sat in the driver’s seat of my car, fiddling with the instrument panel, I saw his eyes light up. Then he smiled and said to me, "This smells good."

This is terrible to admit, but most men like the smell of a new car better than the finest perfume on their wives. It is an intoxicating fragrance.

And that leads me to this quick reminder. Sin draws us to itself, and drags us into the pit. Now, I’m not equating the purchase of a new car to sin (though it probably can be, given certain circumstances). What I am saying, though, is simple.

Temptation is strong. It is alluring. It is enticing. It beckons us to follow it. But it always leads us in the wrong direction. The writer of the Proverbs wrote, "The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as worm-wood, sharp as a two-edged sword."

Very rarely does someone wake up and say, "I think I will go out and wreck my family today." But yet when we go down certain roads, the destination is inevitable. They lead to destruction and death.

Here’s the deal. The time had come for me to trade cars. I made the decision in advance, and I’m satisfied I did the right thing. But now, I need not to look at car advertisements again. They tempt me. It’s going to be several years before I need to replace this car, so I need to avoid "window shopping."

And I need, even moreso, to avoid every appearance of evil. I need not to look at certain things, not to read certain things, not to consider certain things. The Lord is with me and will help me choose for him. But the best way to avoid sin is to avoid temptation. I trust that serves to you as a word to the wise.