My buddy Jack is the perfect dog, loyal, loving and protective. Lately, though, his once-predictable behavior has changed. Although he gets at least three walks and a beach trip every day, recently he’s been requesting more (pestering with whining, refusing to settle, wagging enthusiastically).

And another change: after “doing his business” morning and evening for years, now it’s morning, mid-morning, mid-day, mid-afternoon and evening. Louisa and I just couldn’t figure it out.

Then there was his new habit of going to the basement, something he never did except to follow me, if I went. Although he didn’t sneak down there while we were home, each time we left and returned, we found him climbing up the steps to greet us rather than sitting atop the stairs in his usual spot.

Today we solved the mystery. Jack has been sneaking extra dog food. He’s never snatched a piece of meat off the counter or a tidbit from the edge of the dining table. His manners have been impeccable since we got him 8 years ago, but now something’s changed.

Maybe the whole thing is my fault, since his giant bag of dog food always sits wide open on the basement floor. I didn’t know it was tempting him and wonder how much temptation finally put him “over the top.”

We could wonder the same about ourselves. None of us are tempted to bury our faces in a bag of Kibbles and Bits, although we might do it if the morsels were covered in chocolate.

Of course temptations come in all sizes and shapes, and they’re not all cloaked in calories. Satan’s efforts to derail righteousness involve taking anything God meant as a blessing and pushing it to an extreme, either too much or too little. No category is exempt from his tampering: what we read, watch, eat… or don’t read, watch eat. Where we go, who we befriend, how we judge, what we say… or don’t.

Scripture describes two roads to get through life: the broad and the narrow. A picture of the broad one includes the devil’s acres of extremes; the narrow way depicts a moderate middle. Since most of us are less about self-control and more about keeping all our options open, we know which road looks most attractive.

After Jesus expounded on the two roads, his next scriptural words were, “Watch out!” And therein lies the key to successfully walking the narrow road: we need to keep a watchful eye on the broad one, so we’ll know when we’re wandering too close to it. But keeping an eye on it and stepping on it are as different as resisting temptation and giving in to it. We need to watch out!

And speaking of narrow and broad, Jack’s broadening physique has betrayed which road he prefers.

“Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13,14)