"Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17, ESV).

The TV screen fills with rivers of chocolate and visions of candy or ice cream rapture, while in the background a sensuous voice croons enticingly about a new sweet treat, summing up its virtues by declaring that it is "sinfully delicious."

That's pretty much the same approach Satan uses when selling sin. Sin is sweet and fun to eat. But there's a price; you pay now and more later. With chocolates or other sugary delights, the same is true if indulged to excess.

While a little chocolate is not a bad thing, a little sin is: "But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol" (Proverbs 9:18).

How would you like to bite into a candy bar only to discover that it was filled with rotting flesh! That's the image being painted in Proverbs 9:18, and the reality of willfully indulging in sin. Death is the "other side of the story" that Satan doesn't want you to know about -- until it's too late.

As Christians, we aren't being called to a sour life devoid of "chocolate" experiences. Just as parents will encourage their children to trade sugary candy for sweet and healthy fruit, God offers tasty delights for His children:

"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:103-104).

"Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 24:14).

Enjoying and doing God's Word yields a delicious result that needs nothing sinful to make it enticing. His Word imparts wisdom, knowledge, discernment, healing, encouragement, and more. Opening the Word is like opening a box of chocolates full of different delights with none a disappointment. And you can eat all you want without ever getting too much!

Now that's sweet!