Several years ago I was invited to be the guest speaker at a weekend conference in Pennsylvania. They treated me like royalty with deluxe accommodations in a lovely motel. The room was spacious and tastefully decorated lacking nothing. The crowning touch was a large basket of fresh fruit on the dresser. It was a definitely a fruit-lovers delight. The basket was filled with large apples, juicy oranges, a bunch of grapes and a few bananas. There were even some nuts and hard candy scattered throughout the basket.

But wait! There was something in the basket that I had missed. Wrapped in a piece of yellow cellophane was a little lamb. Pulling aside the covering a bit, I could see that it was a white chocolate lamb, the kind you purchase at the grocery store around Easter time. My mouth watered when I saw the lamb because I have a passion for anything chocolate.

Forget the apples, oranges and bananas! As I started to completely remove the lamb from his colorful wrapping, I suddenly remembered my recent vow to abstain from chocolate. Just a few days earlier I had openly declared, "I'm not going to indulge in chocolate-eating binges anymore. No more chocolate."

And here I was with the chocolate lamb in my hand and nearly in my mouth! Where was my will power? Was I some sort of chocolate addict? Of course not! With determination, I tucked the cellophane tightly back around the lamb and returned it to the fruit basket. Greater was He that was in me than that chocolate lamb that was in the fruit basket. My mind was made up. I would not give in to temptation, but would stand fast in my decision. I would have victory over the white chocolate lamb.

The chocolate lamb and I continued to share the same room over the weekend. Every time I passed by the fruit basket, it was always there. Sometimes it seemed like I could even smell the rich aroma of chocolate filling the room and hear the lamb calling out to me. But I remained firm in my resolve. I ate an apple and a banana and even a few of the grapes, but I didn't even touch the chocolate lamb.

The conference ended on Sunday afternoon and it was time to pack my suitcase for the trip home. I decided to leave the remaining fruit behind in the room along with the basket. But the big question remained, what I should do with the little white chocolate lamb?

"Perhaps I should take it home and give it to my grandchildren," I convinced myself. Reaching into the basket, I quickly removed the lamb from among the fruit. It was a fatal mistake. "One bite won't hurt anything," I reasoned. "I won't eat it all--just the ears."

There was the lamb, finally removed from its protective wrapping. "Just the ears," I promised myself again. With expectancy I closed my teeth over the lamb's ears and bit down hard.

Ugggh! The lamb wasn't made of white chocolate after all. It was a bar of soap! What a rotten trick! It was a bar of soap molded into the shape of a lamb! I couldn't believe what had happened. My mouth was filled with the acrid taste of soap instead of sweet white milk chocolate.

Sin may appear pleasant, but it will always leave a bad taste in your mouth. Don't judge by outward appearances. Beware of deception. Resist temptation. Flee your lusts. Remember your vows. You can certainly learn a lesson very quickly when God washes your mouth out with soap.