Held Fast

"The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.  He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

Proverbs 5:23-24

Three of the next 4 chapters in Proverbs are warnings against adultery.  God hates it; that is obvious.  Since I am penning these words primarily for my children and grandchildren (and encouraged by any others who read), I do not want to skip over passages that sound so negative, but instead I desire through them to find a way to exhort to godly living.

There is never an excused absence from marital faithfulness in the eyes of God.  This is especially true for followers of Christ, because marriage is a picture of Christ and His marriage to the church (Ephesians 5:22-24).

Let's illustrate the passage that we are using today:

Johnny (not the name of one of my grandchildren), 10 years old, lied to his mom and dad.  He feels guilty about it, knowing that he shouldn't have done it (a cord of sin is being wrapped around him.)  The truth is, he stole an electronic game.  His dad had said he must work for it.  That would have taken way too long, he thought. Only this once would he do it.  After all, they were on sale and there were so many of them no one would ever miss it.  

Ouch!  

That was where the rope  began to twist around him.  But when mom  and dad asked where the game came from, he couldn't tell them that he stole it.  So he said that Randy had given it to him, that he got two for his birthday.  In order to be sure that they wouldn't find out that he had lied, he bribed Randy with his ticket to the soccer tournament. 

It's getting tighter!  

Of course, when he didn't go to the tournament he would have to make up some excuse to tell his folks why he gave away his ticket, or maybe he could just go somewhere else and come home and let them think he had gone to the game.  

By this time, Johnny is "held fast in the cords of his sin." 

It won't stop there.  What if Randy tells?  He must think of something..........

and on and on it goes.

Sadly enough, unless a wise mom and dad search this sinful act out, discover the truth and deal with it promptly, Johnny will likely go on to do other things that are a travesty in the eyes of God.  King Solomon had such a desire to see his children grow up in wisdom that he spent much time both teaching them the way of truth and disciplining them when they erred.  None of us wants to see our sons and daughters go the way of the adulterous man or woman.  Therefore, we must be alert to the subtle signs of indiscretion in their lives, and never fail to show by teaching, and perhaps even more importantly example, what it means to live a godly life.

Praying for my children and grandchildren,

Gloria