Monday, May 23, 2011

KILLER RABBIT

"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).

Maybe the right thing to say is that I don't like to sin. That wouldn't be honest, however, and I certainly don't want to sin while I'm in the middle of admitting that I actually like to sin. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's not that I run around trying to find ways to sin. It's not even that I always like to sin. And, it's definitely true that I never like the ultimate results of my sins.

One of my pastors reminded me during a message recently that we can approach sin a couple ways. The first is to allow ourselves to feel the least bit comforted by giving into sin in only small portions. Justifying small concessions feels somewhat acceptable in the moment, but before we know it, those small portions add up. What seems harmless initially eventually becomes downright horrifying. It reminds me of an uncle of mine who used to only take a sliver of pie at our family gatherings during the holidays. Those slivers of pie looked fine, until you added up all the slivers he took. Then, well, it looked just plain gluttonous.

The second is to guard ourselves at all costs from allowing sin to enter our lives. Our sinful nature, along with our enemy, satan, prevents us from living a life of perfection. However, we can actually strive to stay away from sin. Recognizing where we have the greatest weaknesses allows us to avoid temptations. Fleeing from sin takes it to an even stronger reaction. We have no problem running toward what we desire; therefore, we should have no problem running away from what we should not desire. Everyone's different, so the trick is acknowledging our specific sins and bringing them to the light. Hiding our sins from others does not protect us.

I use excessive amounts of food to escape rather than healthy choices to nourish me. I allow lustful thoughts to bring me pleasure rather than focus on the healthy and loving relationships overflowing in my life. I've got plenty of other sins as well, but I'm going to start with those two. How about you?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tom, I'm kinda curious about the relevance of the images you have chosen. What is going on there? Are you saying that apparently innocent behaviour is incremental sin in a disguise like an innocent little bunny hides a killer rabbit?

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  2. Thanks for your comment and question, Chrissie. Not to avoid the question entirely, but I resist explaining myself fully and allowing my readers to digest what they will from my posts. I am, however, certainly using the killer rabbit as a way to demonstrate that not everything is what it seems.

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