Morning
Time: 8:57 AM PST
"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." --Genesis 39:12
In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by
flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated
their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness
puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away
from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look
upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and
a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and
sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself
would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would
do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no
desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch
a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in
the midst of a safe channel.
This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's wisdom to
keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me to-day
than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil
company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not
needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties
of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of
ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to
resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee,
or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that
Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible
trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!