WILL I GET AWAY WITH IT?
For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice and saw the naive, a young man lacking sense, passing through the street near her corner; and he takes the way to her house. Proverbs 7:6-8
A young man sets out to conduct his business in town but it just so happens that he takes the route that allows him to pass by the house of the prostitute. There is another way but at the juncture where he must choose, he turns from the safer alternative. And so, the decision to pass her way gets easier with each passing day. After all, nothing bad has happened on previous days. The conclusion he makes is that flirting with temptation won't hurt.
I recall the well-known book by George Barna called "The Frog in the Kettle." One of the purposes of his book was to bring attention to the moral decline of our nation and to show how anesthetized the American church is to our society's decay. He used the following illustration about frogs to develop his point.
“They say that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. But, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and pleasant, and then you gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late. The frog's survival instincts are geared towards detecting sudden changes.”
A dangerous thing happens when we get away with sin. Initially, we heave a huge sigh of relief but with each repeated offense, we conclude that our anxiety is spent for naught. We cannot see that our heart is slowly decaying, slowly growing cold toward the light, slowly losing its edge for discernment. We do not see the pool of tears in God’s eyes as we throw caution to the wind.
With whom am I flirting today? What fork in the road might I encounter? Let me anticipate the moment and choose now. Not later. May I not be deceived. Every small flirtation injures my sensitivity to spiritual realities. God is cheering me on to make sound judgments! And His voice is reinforced by a cloud of many witnesses.
Wake me up to see danger. In Jesus' name, Amen
For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org
Originally published Thursday, 26 October 2023.
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