By: Kobina Ansah

Everyone loves to jump on to new opportunities or offers. Most employees, for instance, are looking out for the next job with, at least, better conditions of service than the present. We all want to make some headway in this life. In a bid to make our lives better, however, we are likely to fall into deep pits which may often come to us as big tips.

Fishes are attracted with baits. Attached to the baits are well-sharpened hooks which choke them to death. Some offers are like baits. They look so sumptuous from afar? a big-salaried job, an awesomely fine house, an almost perfect suitor. However, behind the sumptuousness, is a hook! Not all offers are worth jumping at. Some are decoys.

Ever heard or read of the remarkable tale behind Trojan horse? It goes like this. When the Greeks had fruitlessly tried to invade Troy, they finally resorted to giving them a gift of a wooden horse. After all, a gift somewhat placates the heart. Guess what. Hidden inside the Greeks’ gift was the elite force of the Greek army!

When the city of Troy had gone to bed that night, the Greek soldiers descended from the horse and conquered them. While they were celebrating over the gift in their dreams, that same gift turned out to be their greatest nightmare. The only way some of us may ever get defeated in this life is by accepting a Trojan horse of a gift? a juicy offer.

Sometimes, the surest way through which an enemy can get to us is a gift. The most possible means we can be reached is through something we have desired for such a long time. Some gifts are not gifts at all. Some gifts are baits!

Every trap, aside being widely opened, has bait. Almost every supposedly great opportunity that has been carefully crafted to set us up has some better conditions. They often come across as offers too juicy to resist. After all, baits are irresistible, too. However, just when we have fallen for such offers, we are crushed. Just when we thought our lives would be a heaven by accepting such offers, our lives instead become an unbearable hell.

Not all opportunities are breakthroughs for us. Some supposed breakthroughs will only end up breaking us up through and through. Not all smiling faces wish you well. Some smiles mean “You had better be prepared for what is yet to come!” Not every pat on the shoulder means congratulations. Some congratulatory messages are warnings turned upside down. Some open doors are traps in disguise. Some opportunities are carefully-covered pits!

When the Biblical Saul, for instance, was promoting David in rank and giving his daughter to him for a wife, he had his own intentions. They weren’t good ones. He was giving David all those freebies in his own interest. As a matter of fact, he was pushing David closer to the Philistines to be killed!

All that while when King Saul was being all nice to David, he was calculatedly setting him up for destruction. When he was showering all his attention on him in public, he was carefully scheming to get him killed in secret. Some praises are craftily-woven traps. Some promotions are well-branded baits. Some tips are pits. Be led.

Like David, some of us are being set up with fat, irresistible offers. We are being pampered to our death. We are being lured to destruction. Like a married man who plays in the bosom of a mistress, it all seems fun until the dirty blackmails start trickling in.

As a young lady, you should know that not all gifts are gifts. Some gifts are Trojan horses! Some men may walk into your life as a gift of the Greeks? very attractive from the outside but cunning on the inside. The easiest means through which an enemy can reach us is often through a well-packaged gift; a well-packaged young man in neatly pressed suit and tie.

Some tips are pits. As a young man, be careful who and what you accept into your bosom. Some ‘opportunities’ are demons in heels and make-up! Some tips are nicely-packaged curses. Not every opened door is worth entering into.

Not every single man or woman is worth marrying. Not every bachelor or spinster is worth walking down the aisle. Not every fat-salaried job is worth running to. Not every promotion is worth embracing. Yes. Pray. Be led.

Being utterly careful is such a great virtue. It is not about being paranoid but carefully weighing every opportunity that may come your way. Some opportunities are mirages. From afar, they don’t look like what they really are. Some offers are like greener pastures. It’s only when you get closer that you know they weren’t even edible in the first place though they looked amazing from a distance!

Don’t you have to progress in this life? Yes you do. Don’t you have to look out for better opportunities to make your life better? Of course you do. However, don’t just jump at every offer, no matter how mouth-watering they may look. They may be traps in disguise. Some tips are only well-packaged pits into which you may fall… never to rise. Always pray. Always be led.

Take risks but pray, too.

The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com), a writing company based in Accra. Get interactive with him on his Facebook page, Kobina Ansah.