If you've ever read any of C.S. Lewis' works, you are presumably familiar with his classic, The Screwtape Letters. The book consists of a series of letters by the devilish mentor, Screwtape, to his young protege, Wormwood, attempting to teach him the art of temptation. His admonitions to Wormwood serve as a warning to us to maintain our own vigilance where temptations are concerned. Screwtape writes,
...do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you are separate the man from the Enemy [God]. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Rarely is temptation so obvious and imposing as to identify itself as such. That is why the apostle Peter tells Christians to be alert, because "your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 4:8). Likewise, Paul warns that Satan himself "masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The question is, what are you doing to avoid the pull of temptation down that "gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"? 
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