A Bottle

My daughter, Kirbi and I were making dinner and talking today.  The menu required sauteed chicken which she was quite adept at making.  While we were talking, I was doing the dishes and I remembered the time that her sister was making chicken in Kirbi's kitchen.
Kirbi likes decorated things.  She has candles and knick-knacks.  She also has a decorated oil bottle by her sink.  Emily was making the chicken and thought how the flavored oil would go really well with the chicken.  She grabbed the bottle and put a generous amount on the chicken than covered it with a lid and went out of the kitchen.  In a very short while she heard hissing noises coming from her dinner.  She went in the kitchen and found bubbles coming up and spreading out all over the stove.
She found out that her sister does not keep oil in the bottle by her sink, she keeps her dish-soap in there.  Of course, the dinner was ruined.  It is hard to rescue chicken from a soapy sauce.  Emily felt so bad, and so frustrated!  She could not understand why her sister would keep soap in an oil bottle.  We have all had a good laugh about it over the years.  Sometimes, that is all you can do in a bad situation, just find something to laugh about and go on.
I was thinking today that Satan acts a lot like that oil bottle in our lives.  He tempts us and tries us with things that are decorated and pretty.  We think we are getting one thing and instead, he leaves us with nothing but soapy water.
So many of the temptations we face today are designed to look great from the outside.  Think about it.  Alcohol looks good in the advertising.  The people look happy.  They are all drinking in moderation.  They are laughing and joking together.  But what is really happening?  Usually someone is drinking a little too much.  People are not acting responsibly.  They drink and drive, or drink and act foolishly.
On the surface, something that looks so blameless, can lead to so much heartache and sin, for themselves, and for those around them.  Watching movies, listening to music, steady dating, all of those can look harmless on the outside.
How many of you have ever heard or even said, "It's OK to listen to that, I don't even pay attention to the words.  It is the music that I like".  Or how about, "I know the movie is rated R, but the rating is because of the language.  There is nothing really bad in it.  I should be able to watch this movie".
Isn't it funny how Satan works to convince us that a little sin is perfectly acceptable.  Sometimes it can be easy to forget that those things are decorated bottles with nothing but soap inside.  The soap would bind us to Satan's paths and would lead us to believe that we are unlovable, unchangeable and unable to ever live with our Heavenly Father again.  With a little soap, he has convinced us that we can never go home.  There are so many things that he decorates on the outside, but inside they are never what you expected.
Remember that he is called the "Father of lies" for a reason.  He is under no obligation to tell the truth.  He usually works with partial truths until we have become completely ensnared.
The only thing that can protect us is to follow our Savior.  Remember, in Lehi's dream, the people had to grasp the iron rod.  It did not hold on to them, they could not just walk beside it, they could not go by sight.  They had to take the iron rod firmly in their hands and follow it to the Tree of Life.   Today, as you are involved in your daily tasks, ask yourself if you are holding tightly onto the rod, or are you led astray with nothing to grasp except a few soap bubbles.
Remember, it is not what is on the outside of the bottle that matters,  it is what is on the inside and what you are doing with it that counts the most.