Yesterday I came a quote from James MacDonald’s book, I Really Want to Change…So, Help Me God. Here’s the quote, on the theme of temptation and life transformation, and then I will make a few comments following: “Choosing to Change in Five Days”
Day One: I went for a walk down a street. I fell into a hole. I didn’t see it. It took me a long time to get out. It’s not my fault.
Day Two: I went for a walk down the same street. I fell into the same hole. It took me a long time to get out. Why did I do that?
Day Three: I went for a walk down the same street. I fell in the same hole. I got out quickly. It is my fault.
Day Four: I went for a walk down the same street. I saw the hole. I walked around it.
Day Five: I went for a walk down a different street. I can’t handle it when I go down that street. Every time I go down that street, I feel something sucking me down that hole! I’m not going down that street anymore! I don’t like what happens on that street. And when I get there, I can’t handle it. I don’t want sin to reign in my body so I’m not going down that street anymore.
Life contains many holes for us to fall in to. None of us are ever too far away from a hole. There’s a long list of habits and thought patterns, which if not dealt with, have the potential to become life-controlling issues and extremely destructive in our lives. We may try to change simply by saying, “No.” But self-will is very limited in its success, consider all the stories of people who have tried to quit smoking or who go on diets, only to give up after a few days (hours?). The only effective way to avoid the “holes” is not go near them, as suggested by MacDonald. This is the reason why the Bible provides these encouragements:
2 Timothy 2:22 NIV “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.”
NLT “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”
Matthew 18:8 NLT “So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven crippled or lame than to be thrown into the unquenchable fire with both of your hands and feet.”
Also, 1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:11.
There is a Greek word, FEUGO (fyoo’go), which when translated into English is ESCAPE or FLEE. Feugo means “to flee away, seek safety by flight; to be saved by flight, to escape safely out of danger.” James MacDonald and the New Testament writers who used the word, flee, are trying to tell us, “Don’t go there.” Once you have identified a sinful habit or thought pattern, “don’t go there.” Do whatever you have to do, as crazy as it may seem, to “walk down a different street”, as MacDonald said.
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