staying away from temptation

There is one thing I know about temptation. You can't play around with it. Sometimes we in our own minds rationalize temptation by thinking we can go as close to the edge of the cliff as possible and not fall off.

When we do that, we become childish in our walk with God. There is a difference between being childlike (which Jesus calls us to) and childish, which brings on words such as selfish and egocentric.

Proverbs 6:27 states, "Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?"

Children will play with virtually anything they get their hands on. It's no surprise, then, that when Dutch children in the town of Barneveld uncovered an unexploded World War II artillery shell, they played with it. In fact, they had games with it for several months.

That shell was still live and contained high explosives. Thankfully, the deadly plaything did not explode in the Barneveld playground as the children tossed it about. Eventually the authorities learned about the shell, confiscated it, and exploded it in a safe place.

Those who are not yet mature often fail to recognize the danger of what they are doing. For children, the world is a playground, and bombs make great toys.

Let's be careful with what we play around with. Not in a legalistic way but in a legitimate way of staying away from the temptations of the enemy.

I encourage you to be wise. No one is above the temptations of the enemy.