Wednesday, October 19, 2022
A Dead-End Street
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. (2 Timothy 2:22 NLT)
I didn’t grow up in the church. I grew up in a world of alcoholism, abuse, and godlessness. We never went to church, prayed together, or read the Bible. These things weren’t a part of our lives.
I knew this world didn’t have what I was looking for in life, and that sent me on an aggressive search at an early age. However, I went in a lot of wrong directions on that search. But one day I heard the gospel on my high school campus, and I gave my life to Christ. And I didn’t want to go back to a worldly way of living anymore.
That’s why, after my conversion, I was surprised when I met people who grew up in the church and in the things of the Lord, yet the things of the world drew them. I had been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt. And I knew it was a dead-end street.
It can be hard to understand how we can raise children in Christian homes, yet the world still attracts them. That was the case with Abraham’s nephew Lot, who was drawn to worldly things. This caused friction with Abraham that resulted in a conflict between his herdsmen and Abraham’s herdsmen.
Lot was at war with Abraham because he was at war within himself. And he was at war within himself because he was at war with God. So, when Abraham and Lot decided it was time to part company, Lot chose what looked like the better land. But that choice turned into a series of missteps that led to his backsliding.
Whenever we end up in sin, it’s always the cumulative product of small indulgences and miniscule compromises without discernible, immediate consequences at the time. But little things ultimately turn into big things.
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