READING:
One-year plan: Proverbs 4:1-6:19, 2 Corinthians 2:5-3:18
Two-year plan: 2 Samuel 12:1-13:20, Luke 23:50-56
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Early in my Christian journey, I had folks warn me against letting others influence me toward evil. I’m sure they realized the power and pull of peer pressure, and they wanted me to be prepared to stand against it. They knew that any step in the wrong direction is one step too many – for each step makes it easier to take the next step into wrong. The steps become a pattern, and we find ourselves caught in the enemy’s snare.
Here’s the way the writer of Proverbs made the same point: “Keep off the path of the wicked; don’t proceed on the way of evil ones. Avoid it; don’t travel on it. Turn away from it, and pass it by” (Prov 4:14-15). It’s almost as if the writer just kept piling up the phrases to make his point and to reiterate and reinforce what he wanted his readers to hear. It might also be that the writer, too, knew the power and pull of evil, so he wanted us to hear over and over again, “Avoid it. Run from it. Don’t even go in that direction.”
We are wise to listen to this wisdom. Flee immorality—not linger there.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How close are you to falling into this trap?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, help me to run from evil!”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Proverbs 6:20-9:18, 2 Corinthians 4:1-5:15
Two-year plan: 2 Samuel 13:21-14:33, Luke 24:1-21