#avoid sin

be obedient to the voice of God...

Many people seek the secret to a long and fulfilling life. Modern science points to healthy habits like eating well, exercising, and reducing stress. But did you know that the Bible also gives clear principles on how to live a long life? Scripture reveals that longevity is not just about physical health, but also about spiritual and moral choices. Here are some biblical keys to a long life: 1.…

One of my favorite proverbs is Proverbs 22:4: “True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.” This verse is a powerful and profound promise, offering insight into the heart of God’s blessings for those who walk in humility and reverence before Him. Understanding True Humility Humility is often misunderstood. Some see it as weakness, self-deprecation, or a lack of…

by William Jay

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” - 2 Peter 5:8

Prayer when unaccompanied by a corresponding course of action is a trifling with God, and prayer when contradicted by our practice is an insulting of God to his face. And therefore we are not only to be prayerful but to be sober and vigilant. In order to enable you to set a watch successfully, take the following directions.

First, impress your minds with a sense of your danger. The evil which lurks under every temptation is inexpressible. The design of it is to make you sin; and to sin is to debase your nature, to defile your conscience, to rob yourselves of peace and reputation. I know there is a deceitfulness in sin and that the enemy endeavors to represent it as liberty and pleasure, or if an evil at all, as a trifling one. But take your estimate of all sin from the Scripture, from the Judge himself, who is to punish it; and you will find that it is exceedingly sinful, and that its history is like Ezekiel's roll, "written within and without, with lamentation, and mourning, and woe."

Second, study your constitutional weakness and failings. Endeavor to know what manner of spirit you are of. Some are more inclined naturally to sloth, others to anger and impatience. Some to pride and vanity, others to wantonness and the pleasures of sense. There is a sin that most easily besets us, and this demands our peculiar circumspection and care.

Third, observe how you have already been foiled or ensnared. He who would encounter an enemy successfully should be informed of his mode of fighting. And how is this to be done but by observation and reflection? How was such a place taken? How did I lose such a battle? What rendered the last campaign so little efficient? Let me look back upon my past life and endeavor to derive wisdom from my old follies and strength from my falls. By what secret avenue did sin enter? Have I not been taken by surprise where I deemed myself most secure? And may not this be the case again? Are there not some places and companies from which I never returned without injury? Shall I turn again to folly? Let painful experience awaken me--and keep me awake!

Fourth, guard against the beginnings of sin. You should learn even from an enemy, and take the same course to preserve yourselves as the devil does to destroy you. Now the tempter never begins where he intends to leave off. Would he induce a man to impurity? He does not propose the crime at once but prepares for it by degrees, by the cherishing of loose thoughts, by the indulging of improper familiarities, by the courting of favorable opportunities. If the tempter would produce infidelity, he first reconciles the youth to read poisonous books, perhaps for the sake of the style or some curious subject. He draws him into the company of those who entertain loose notions of religion and ridicule some of its doctrines and institutions. From these he joins him to the skeptic, and he prepares him for the scoffer. Guard therefore against the first deviations from the path of righteousness.

Finally, avoid the occasions of sin. Nothing is more dangerous than idleness or having nothing to do. Our idle days are the devil's busy ones, says Matthew Henry. And says another, when the mind is full temptation cannot enter, but when it is empty and open the enemy can throw in what he pleases. Stagnant waters breed thousands of noxious insects, but this is not the case with living water.

My Second Car; Worse Than The First

I told you about my first car several weeks ago. I wish I could tell you I had a better experience with my second car, but it is what it is; Adventure and adversity. I had a 19 inch TV I had either bought, or acquired in a trade. I don’t really remember. My uncle, being a master trader, convinced me to buy a CB radio from him, and offer both the TV and the radio in trade to a man he knew, for a…