Probing Proverbs: 4:14-15 Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving.
I remember years ago I took a trip on a windjammer from
Oahu, to three outer islands. This required us to travel the Molokai channel.
When we first anchored the boat off of Lanai I dove off the boat into crystal
clear and calm water. It was a great swim to shore. Later that day we were
traveling up the channel, the captain said we could get out and swim, but we
needed to understand the current. It did not look like much, but he had
everybody look to the back of the boat, and there was a very long rope. His
warning was clear; that rope was for us to grab once the current had moved us
to the back of the boat. So I got up and with many others dove off the front of
the boat into the deep blue waters. We were all talking and just treading water;
it felt great. We saw a few people trying to swim ahead and even though they
were really stroking, they were not moving ahead very fast. In a very short
time, those of us that were basically just floating were behind the boat and
moving away from it fast. We all grabbed the rope and climbed back on board.
But the lesson never left me, when there is a current; standing still is not an
option!
This proverb is actually warning us of this reality.
The wisdom here is truly incredible! If we follow its logic,
our sin life will decrease exponentially, we can "blastoff" away from sin. We are talking about a lifestyle, not
a few missteps. The key is that the warning goes to the source of our problem
not the symptoms. God said “As a man thinks, so is he.” Our
problem is we play with sin in our head. Wisdom gives us a two-fold plan of
action –
first –
don’t
think about it. How? What this means is when the thought occurs –
confront and dismiss it right away! But Nate I do that and still sin! If all I
do is that, so do I. The key is the second step; after you dismiss it, REPLACE
it with proper thoughts. Thoughts of our Lord and your love for Him.
The spiritual current we live in is far stronger than the one I
swam in! Sin nature never stops moving! If you try to just stand still, you
will find yourself being swept by that old nature into a stronger bondage! That
is why the Proverb is so correct; there is no “treading water” or neutral in our
walk. We either are moving forward by actions we are doing and thoughts we are
meditating on, or we are moving back toward sin. There are two ways to move
backward. Either by deliberate rebellion, or when we think we can switch our
life to cruise. Sin’s current will move you if you do not proactively move in the
right direction. Jesus warned about cleaning a house, but not filling it with
something better:
Matthew 12:43–45 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it
goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the
person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and
in order. 45 Then the spirit finds seven
other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live
there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
The principle here is not a “sometime” reality! Wisdom exhorts us to “keep moving”; standing still just lets sin catch back
up! Don’t
just flee from sin…run toward God!
The so what? Have you ever “slipped”
into neutral in your life, what happened? When you encounter a temptation, what
do you do? Can you make a list of victories over habitual sins in your life
with God? Did you replace those habits with things that would lead to God? How
much time do you spend focused on getting away from sin, compared to time spent
pursuing Christ? 