Thursday; January 17
When I was shoveling the snow out of
my driveway last weekend I realized something – I have gotten soft! For the better part of thirty years I lived
in some pretty cold places (often without benefit of a snowblower) and got used
to moving snow … I mean LOTS of snow in some pretty extreme conditions. Having spent most of my childhood years in
Florida, it wasn’t as if I inherited a snow shoveling gene or grew up learning
and loving snow removal, but as the years progressed I just got used to
it. By the time I left Wyoming a few
years ago, being around snow was just no big deal. Now I fuss and whine at a couple inches of
snow!
While
getting used to something can be a blessing, I think it can also be a
curse. Have you ever thought about how
much immoral and carnal stuff we have “gotten used to” in our lives? No, the world has never been a pure place and
has always had to deal with immorality, but it does seem that fewer things tend
to bother us. It is almost like we have
grown immune to some of the things that should shock us!
While
this observation could be met with a lot of agreement, the question is, what
are we going to do about it? How can we
shake our immunity to immorality? I
think the first thing we need to do is to remind ourselves that purity is
possible by conducting ourselves in such a way that we demonstrate and promote it. Paul reminded Timothy, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness,
but rather in speech,
conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of
those who believe.” (I Timothy 4:12).
The second thing we can do is stand up for what is good and right and
proper. I don’t think we need to be obnoxiously
pious about it, but when we are exposed to something that is vile and offensive
maybe it would do us good to call attention to it as being unfit for public
display. Yes, we might be called old
fuddy-duddies, but is that really an insult?
Think About It!