"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."
Sounds like when we're trying to avoid someone in the grocery store, doesn't it? There are times we are in a hurry and too busy to talk, and you just know that person loves to talk! Or maybe it really is someone we want to avoid. =(
But I'm sure we've all been there.
"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."
We teach our children to not talk to strangers, watch out for stray dogs, stay out of the woods unless I'm with you, stay where I can see you, and a host of other similar admonitions.
But when it comes to our own lives, sometimes we allow things in. Sometimes its an attitude, or anger towards someone. Those things we can hide pretty well in public if we're good at it.
We allow a few exceptions in music, or in television shows or movies, and before you know it, one day you look back and realize you would never used to watch that type of show or movie.
We tend to excuse things by saying they're not so bad, and we think we can handle it.
We let a little sin in, and allow it to grow. How? We think about it first. We may wrestle with it awhile before we eventually reason that it isn't so bad, and the cost will be minimal.
We eventually do what we think about! But sin will grow.
"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."
That means don't even consider or regard it! Stay away at all costs. Or it will cost you.
As the Patch the Pirate song "Put on Your Running Shoes" says, "Don't stop to take a closer look!" (lyrics, youtube video)
I remember a song from when I was a child, "Never Smile at a Crocodile." Some of the lyrics are, "Never smile at a crocodile; never tip your hat or stop to talk awhile. Don't be taken in by his welcome grin; he's imagining how well you'll fit within his skin!"
I Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
Whom he may devour!
If you're lagging at the back of the pack, so to speak, the lion will get you. He always goes after the weak prey.
Stay strong by reading your Bible daily and listening to good preaching, then applying to your life what you've read and heard. Pray all day about little things and big things; keep your communication with God constant. Be accountable to someone else. Keep check on each other as to what you've read in your Bible each day.
Run from temptation and toward God!
sMiLeS,
