Don't Look, Proverbs 4:25

Don't Look

Proverbs 4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

There is sin all around us. It bombards us in music, billboards, on the radio and TV, in school and at work. Our "friends" and co-workers exude evil. What is one to do? It cannot be escaped!.. Look to the Word of God. This verse is just one of many that helps us deal with this issue. We know we are not to live in a bubble, never to touch the unclean. Jesus was very clear about this... [Father], My prayer is not that you take them out of this world, but that you protect them from the evil one (John 17:15). No, we are to be among them, just not part of them.

But what do we see when we look? Paul said to stay focused, press on toward the goal (Ph 3:14) and to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2). In following Paul's teachings (and that is what we are to do (Acts 2:42), we will see the hurts and needs of the people caught in evil practices, but we will not involve ourselves in their worldly "pleasures". When what they do becomes desirable to us, we have been deceived. Is this not what happened to Eve? She saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eye and desirable... she took some and ate it (Genesis 3:6).

Oh K and A, there is no greater warning I must give than to tell you to keep from being polluted by the world (James 1:27)! It is a major theme of the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation we are warned to be vigilant, and we are given examples of those who failed to do so and the destruction God brought upon them and their families. Why does today's church not see this danger? Why do I, why do you not take more precautions. Daughters, fix your eye above to heavenly things so that as you save other by snatching them from the fire, that while showing mercy, you yourselves will not be stained by [their] corrupted flesh (Jude 1:23).

Ladies, I have been ridiculed for telling others to be careful who they spend their time with because it will affect their spiritual health. But, it is God's Word that warns you and me! There is a war going on between God and evil. Your struggles are spiritual and against dark powers looking to devour you so be vigilant (Eph 6:12, 1 Pet 5:8). Do not be like Lot's wife, who looked back yearning to have what she lost and never took another step. Rather keep in step with Christ as you walk the narrow road, not looking to the left or to the right, but pressing onward to the prize that lay ahead.

~Dad