A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good.

Proverbs 16:29 ESV

Why does violence entice? After all, don’t we tend to find violence revolting rather than exciting?

We like to think that. Shirking away from violence is the socially appropriate response. But deep down, I believe, we crave it. We secretly lust for blood.

Is this not evidenced by the violent content that saturates our entertainment? We love bloodshed, and the man of violence is enticing. Think Rambo or John Wick as modern examples.

This, of course, isn’t to say that violent entertainment causes violence. Instead, we have a deeply imbedded violent bend because of our sinful nature, and our love for violent entertainment comes from this source. Our love for violence begets violent entertainment, not the other way around. Consider the Roman coliseums.

We are a violent people, who by God’s common grace, tend to suppress our violent tendencies. We instinctively know that the way of violence is not good. Yet the sin is always crouching at the door. Whoever claims that they could never commit a sin of violence fools themselves. Given the proper circumstances, we could each become Cain.

May we, therefore, confess our need for the King who suffered violence of sinful men to redeem us from the violence of sin.

May He ever deliver us from the enticement of violence and the violent.