STAY AWAY FROM EVIL

STAY AWAY FROM EVIL

A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident. Proverbs 14:16

Too many of us want to live to close to the edge. A few years ago I had the privilege of driving up Pike's Peak. Once you get above the tree line, the road becomes gravel, and there are no guard rails. I chose to hug the middle of the road that day!

The Proverbs Writer cautions us in this description of a wise man. Once wisdom begins its work in our lives, we become less macho and freely admit that some things deserve our fear. Evil, in any form, is one of those things. Some things warrant us running the other direction; we don't need to hang around to see if we're brave enough to handle them.

I read this week that New Jersey's Casino Commission has renewed the license of a casino executive who had lost the license because of a gambling addiction. I don't know the man involved, but he shouldn't be applying for a renewed license. He ought to be as far away from Atlantic City as possible!

If your addiction is alcohol, you don't need to hang out in the bar with your buds drinking diet sodas. You need to avoid the place like the plague! If you're hooked on internet porn, you either need to give up your computer or put software on that blocks the porn. Someone other than you should control that software!

Do you get the idea? Our Proverbs guy tells us this morning that a fool is self-confident. "I can handle this!" Do you know men with life-dominating sins who think that way? I do, and they almost never handle their issue wisely. Wise men know their limitations, and they run from evil. They don't mess around with the things that can lead them down the road of the foolish.

This really is simple stuff. If God's wisdom is at work in your life, you'll figure out the nature of evil and know when to be afraid. If you're the self-confident fool who thinks he knows everything, you're probably living closer to the edge than you should. You may need to think about how far down it is if you get too close.

Don't forget: Lady Wisdom urges you to stay far away from evil! (Pastor John Strain -- First Baptist of Toms River)