When You Stop Feeding the Fire

Well now, looky here, friend, come on up that steppin’ stone pathway and git yourself right up here to this ol’ front porch. Shake that dust off your shoes, and set that ol’ worry down like a heavy ol’ feed sack over by the screen door. Some folks treat temptation like a curious ol’ goat that keeps right on nosin’ around the garden, figurin’ it won’t do too much harm. But before long that li’ ol’ rascal has plum eaten the beans all up, trampled through the tomatoes, and left your soul lookin’ like a chicken yard after a big ol’ windstorm.

That’s sho’-nuff’ why Jesus spoke so strongly in Matthew 5:29 when He said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.” He wasn’t being real wild eyed. He was plum tellin’ the plain truth. Sin is real serious, and holiness just can’t be handled with oven mitts and wishful thinkin’.

Jesus wasn’t callin’ us to harm our bodies. He was callin’ us to deal firmly with whatever keeps openin’ the back gate to be lettin’ sin come on in. If somethin’ pulls your heart away from God, don’t pet it, excuse it, or decorate it with fancy words. Cut it plum off. Shut it down. Walk away. Job 31:1 says, “I have made a covenant with my eyes.” And Romans 13:14 tells us to “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” In other words, don’t keep settin’ supper out for somethin’ you’re askin’ God to starve.

Truth is, compromise rarely barges in wearin’ boots and hollerin’. It plum tiptoes in quiet as a fox slippin’ past the henhouse. A lil’ ol’ look, a lil’ ol’ linger, a lil’ ol’ secret, and pretty soon the heart gets mighty foggy. But God doesn’t leave us defenseless. 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises that with temptation He “will also make the way of escape.” Sometimes that escape looks downright practical. Close the screen. Leave the room. End the conversation. Change the habit. Git it gone.

Father, show me anything in my life that gives sin a place to grow. Give me courage to remove what needs removing and wisdom to take the way of escape You provide. Cleanse my heart, steady my mind, and help me love holiness more than comfort. Amen.

Alright then, friend, put your boots back on and gather yourself up as you git to headin’ right on back into this day like an ol’ rooster that plum knows mornin’ has come and ain’t ashamed to git to crowin’ about it. Don’t keep company with sparkin’ matches and then act real shocked when the ol’ barn starts to smokin’. Let the Lord help you mend every ol’ broken fence post and close every crooked gate. What He asks you to surrender may sting for a lil’ spell, but what He gives in return is a whole lot cleaner, freer, and sweeter than anything sin ever promised you.

With joy,

Gwen