A Calling For a Craving: The Quiet Beginning and Lasting Cost of Compromise

James 1:14–15 (NKJV)
> “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

This is personal. It’s partly my story—but interwoven with another.

Years ago, I became a cautionary tale. I became the man I had always despised.

I didn’t plan to. I didn’t think it would ever be me. But it was.

I was the one who gave in. I let the glance linger a little too long. I entertained conversations I should’ve shut down. I ignored the warnings I used to preach. And before I realized what was happening, I had stepped across a line I never thought I’d even get close to.

For the price of a few moments of pleasure, I destroyed my marriage, my ministry, and a part of me I’ll never fully get back.

So when I say what I’m about to say, I say it from a place of experience—not theory.

About two months ago, I was asked to call my best friend because, “he might need a friend.” I didn’t know what was going on. When we talked, he was cryptic, guarded. All he said was, “I’m about where you were with Rebecca.”

And my blood ran cold.

This man prayed for me. He walked beside me during the darkest days of my life. He ministered to me when I couldn’t find the strength to pray. He helped hold up my arms when I was too weak to lift them.

And now… it’s his turn.

This afternoon, his oldest son—my godson—called me. We talked for nearly 20 minutes. And the rumors I’d hoped were just whispers? They weren’t rumors at all.

My best friend—still married—is having a very public affair with someone who was once his wife’s closest friend. And the fallout? It's heartbreaking.

His youngest son has moved back in with his mother. His oldest told him plainly: “You’re not welcome in my home until you get your spiritual house in order.”

I told him I hated that it came to that. But I also told him I was proud of him. Because that’s not rebellion. That’s spiritual discernment. That’s a man protecting his wife, his children, and his home from a spirit that destroys everything it touches.

And how did it all begin?

Text messages.

That’s what his son told me. It started with innocent texts… and turned sexual. Private messages that became secret meetings. A connection that started digitally, but birthed destruction in the physical world.

Texts and social media are wonderful tools—but in the wrong hands, or the wrong heart, they’re just as dangerous as a loaded weapon in the hands of a sociopath. They feel safe. Harmless. Easy to explain. Easy to hide. But they’re not. They never are.