Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit;
a man who is under the Lord’s wrath falls into it.

So many falling into that pit in various ways. But, there is a way to avoid it altogether, and though not that obvious or apparently connected, that way has to do with much less grievous (at least to our calculation) things/choices. Many of the offenses that would bring us into a position less than favorable with our Father, such as those listed in Romans 5 will be things that we might just brush off as insignificant and not really all that big of a deal. After all, just a whisper- I mean, really? Isn’t that what grace is for, so we don’t have to be conscious of sin anymore, and just live without being overwhelmed with possible consequences? Though ridden with much less direct consequences, each of those little attitudes and actions that reflect anything other than the love of God are a step off the path of righteousness where the favor of God is enabled and onto a place His wrath is actually activated. How does someone who would appear to be right in so many ways “all of a sudden” fall into a pit of such devastation? It’s not that each one of those other little transgressions is of great variance itself, but pursuing it without a frequent return to the way of righteousness and purity will eventually lead to the edge of this precipice where a fall is inevitable as its visibility is diminished by increased darkness.

It is more than possible to remain in the realm of favor with our loving and caring Father, where the heart condemns itself no more and great confidence is engendered towards the One who is our eternal life. With a passion for righteousness, where hunger for it disables any willingness to step off its path for a taste of sin’s pastries not matter how small the morsel, there is surety of purity and avoidance of any ill-positioned pit.

Jude 1:24 KJV

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

1 Peter 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (ASV)

So there may need to be (have to be?) a little pain if there’s gonna be any gain.

You know, it would be so nice to look like the guy on the poster or in the magazine who has proudly removed his shirt to display a flat stomach and rippling muscles. But, as nice that would be there is a great battle that ensues when considering whether or not to leave the couch and the banana split for the long  (not really) drive to the gym and the arduous pain inflicting actions that take place there. Repose is sort of nice, too, you know, and while you don’t get the nice flat belly, you do get the nice feeling in the belly, the pain of which is a whole lot more comforting than the ongoing aching the crunches exact. Honest consideration of the long-term effects, however, brings things into better perspective when it is understood the health and emotional benefits that exercise brings, once its pain has been endured. All those tasty treats and long naps, while completely avoiding any challenge to the flesh, will in the end destroy it.

So, while images of running away from the gym to the pastry shop seem way more inviting, there is a significantly more substantial benefit and confidence that will come from the choice to steer towards the conflict rather than away from it. And, once it is understood how beneficial this navigation truly is, a certain joy and excitement will begin to accompany even the turns that take you there. When won, this battle on the field of the mind will result in a victory in the body and in life itself. This understanding will be the armament that defeats and silences the flesh-dominated demands of the way that leads to death.

So often it is just much easier to give in to sin, to say that juicy comment, to partake of a substance, be entertained by perversity, walk away with something, or, you know, just curl up on the couch with the remote and the ice cream as it were. There is a poster, though, of someone who has spent way more time in the gym than the dining room. The more you look at Him, understanding how He defied His flesh and challenged it to become the victor that He is, the more you want to face your challenges the way He did and follow the path He has taken. Far away from the demands of the flesh and its impending failures in the mind, the body, and life, there is a place where the flesh is put under and strength is found. Even the pain from the exercise of it can be reason for joy and encouragement when it is known that the very pain that may restrict movement today is making it possible to have increased strength and effectiveness tomorrow. Pain is actually inevitable with either choice- it is the outcome that will drive the right choice. When the flesh rules it will bring ultimate death, while crucifying the flesh now and becoming identified with Christ puts to death the old man, but allows the risen life of Christ to be experienced in unity with Him.

1 Peter 4:15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters: 16 but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. (ASV)

Psalms 24:3-6 KJV  Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?  (4)  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.  (5)  He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  (6)  This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

God hasn’t changed, and the way to the holy life He requires has not changed in the least. He is completely uncompromising in His excellence and will not allow any who is unclean in their living to hang out with Him- even on the outskirts or on the doorsteps. It would seem, then, that striving for holiness should be the passion and the pursuit.

While the nature of man hasn’t changed either, there has been an ever-increasing amount of world-fashioned gods that are quite attractive in their lure. The perception of their true colors has also been skewed in a world where right and wrong have been placed in the hands of those who have no connection whatsoever to the only One who really knows what that means. Where certain things would at one time have been clearly considered to be evil and wrong, it has become acceptable to embrace murder, infidelity, perversion, and substance abuse in the name of ‘well look at everyone else- including ‘so-and-so’ who’s doing it’. Even in the name of helping the seekers in their journey to worshiping the Holy One, there is the presentation of the very gods who oppose Him as if they are acceptable and justifiable at some point along that journey. Cloaked in humor and romantic passion, the very scenarios and stories that capture the desire for entertainment and faithful devotion of emotion, money, and time are based on subjects driven by agendas far removed from any encouragement of a Christ- centered life of holiness. Adultery, homosexuality, brutality, violence, profanity, and characters committed to a spirit world of demonic and blood sucking bastardization of love have made a complete and total mockery of what should really be unacceptable to all. Murder has been embraced by a society that justifies anything in the name of personal choice and right. Yet, the way to the holy place has never changed and will never include any of these man-made gods as a means of getting there.

The difficulty with understanding this truth, however, comes when the determination of what is right is left in the realm of debate and reason. As long as something can be given a good enough reason- ‘you know, it’s really not all that bad’, ‘so and so did that, so this can’t be all that bad either’, ‘you have to be like them and talk their language in order to reach them’, ‘this is the realm of grace, and God understands my heart’, ‘I have a personal relationship with God, and no one is going to tell me what I can or cannot do’- then it is justified and given a stamp of acceptability. As long as the terms used to validate an action exclude any reference to passion for the Holy One Himself, there will ever be a justifiable path to the precipice of eternal damnation. Just like King Saul, who determined that he could justify doing things the way that seemed right to him, apart from any fear of the One from whom the directive came to destroy everything, his very soul was put in eternal peril because he kept the debate in the realm of reason and not relationship.

It is really a very simple matter, and the key to this simplicity is found in the last verse of the given passage. As long as being right is left to reason, there will be no possibility of standing in the presence of the Holy One. As long as there is more passion about validating one of His opposing gods than uncompromisingly pleasing Him, there is only the option of eternal separation from Him. The debate is brought to a conclusion every time the only way to His side is presented- seeking Him, and seeking His face alone. In the amazing glow of His glory, all other gods will become less than dispensable, while all passion they once demanded will be lost in the all-consuming desire for His realm and His place. Everything changes in the light of His glory where all energy and faithful pursuit are shifted from the temporal realm requiring reason based justification to the realm of righteousness that requires no validation. The path and the journey become unclear and unstable where any consideration other than Him is given credence.

He still requires clean hands and a pure heart, and it is still in single pursuit of His face that purity will be understood and embraced. It will become fruit in a life that is truly free from any law. The heart that is held in His hands can be possessed by no other.

Galatians 5:18-25 KJV  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  (19)  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  (20)  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  (21)  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  (22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  (23)  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  (24)  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  (25)  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Psalms 23:6 MKJV  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever.

What a comfort it is to consider the leading of the most High, that He is continually providing for all our necessities with regard to food, protection, peace, and rest. Before He can be any of these things, however, He must first be what He is declared to be in the very first verse- a Shepherd that is embraced, possessed, looked up to and eternally possessed in submission. All the subsequent scenes of sweet communion will have no place in reality until the One that is leading there is seen as way more than just a companion, but as the only hope for life at all. A single step cannot be made towards His provision and place of quiet bliss until He is considered to be the great God of not only wonderful blessed provision, but also the One with the rod and the staff, the One who is completely and uncompromisingly Holy. No claim on the provision has any validity until there has been total surrender and submission to the One from whom all blessings flow. The goodness and mercy that is anticipated is more than just a wish in the heart of the One who understands the faithfulness of the great God of judgment. An awareness of His faithfulness in correction and consequence brings incredible confidence to the one who merely yields to His will in every aspect of life. Rather than being concerned in the least about any area of need, there is an abundant assurance that all is well with the One who is equally faithful to provide for all who comply to His will.

To dwell in the house of provision has everything to do with giving honor to the one who has secured the dwelling, stocked it with essentials, and protected it from threats. There is no passion for hanging out in the abode of one whose rules and standards are dishonored and ignored. When there is no respect for the power and integrity of the owner there will be an expectation of something quite opposite to goodness and mercy- rebellion and destructive judgment. The stories of David’s own sons are clear examples of this. Though Absalom and Solomon had the same relationship to David, there was great contrast in their perception of their father, and ultimately great contrast in what would follow their actions. Absalom, in failing to see the divinely given power and might of his father, chose instead to undermine and rebel. Though gifted as a leader, his dishonor and disrespect for his father prohibited his residence in a palace that was his every right to occupy. His failure to possess his inheritance in submission to his father brought an inevitable consequence of total loss and death.

His brother, though, maybe impacted by the example played out before him, held onto a passionate possession of not only his father’s relationship, but his position of authority and power in his life. Beyond the obvious human failures, he saw in his father a man who had been faithful to the God who had blessed him with protection and provision. Rather than resisting and rebelling for his own ambitions, he found in humility and submission a great opportunity for extended residence in the house of his honored father. In seeking wisdom over material blessings, he demonstrated complete and total deference to the One that would make all that other stuff just follow behind him as a wake.

For this day, there is a path that is lit and leading to restful provision. Its destination, though, is the dwelling place of the Almighty, Holy, and uncompromising Shepherd whose provision of goodness and mercy requires humble and fearful submission to the superiority of His will. To dwell is to first possess total honor for the Shepherd.

8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but is shall be for the redeemed: the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon; they shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 and the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35:8-10 (ASV)

There is a direct relationship between ‘the redeemed’ and those that are holy. This way that leads to an everlasting joy is one that requires a special pass of redemption that is demonstrated in a holy life, one that has become eternally altered by the magnitude and awesome power of the Redeemer and His amazing grace. It might be possible to jam with the fun songs, but for the sorrow and sighing to really flee away, there will have to be passage through the gate of holiness that validates any claim to the true joy and not just the appearance thereof.

To have the way paid for isn’t enough. The ticket will have to be used and the way of holiness taken before any of the legitimate gladness can become more than mere emotional bliss.

For Valentine’s day this year Kim bought some tickets to a concert for Haydn, Hayllie and me. She bought them ahead of time and they were delivered in a Fedex envelope. They were really special seats, located in great proximity to the stage and to get to the area where they were you had to pass through a restricted passage that required showing our unique tickets. We had a great time attending the concert, but as great as the experience ended up being, for us to really get to enjoy it, it was very necessary for us to do more than just get a thrill about having the tickets in that Fedex envelope. We actually had to get in our car, drive to the venue, use the tickets to gain entrance to the building and then, again, to gain entrance to our exclusive area. Each of those tickets had great potential for a very real and personal exposure to great musicians and their music, but until the necessary way was taken to comply with what it would take to arrive at our purchased seats, we could wish, demand, jump up and down, shout, and dance around a bit, but never actually get to the place where the real amazing sounds were being produced.

There is a song of the redeemed that is accompanied by heavenly musicians that have been developing in their gifts for time beyond our comprehension. As joyous and wonderful as it is for those who get to experience this song, there is a way that must be taken to arrive at its performance venue. Though the tickets have been purchased long ago and have arrived in a special package, there is much more than just possession of them that is necessary for their true value to be more than a provision. The way of holiness will have to be taken without diversion, and the use of the blood of Jesus will have to be used to access the restricted area of holiness, where the intimate experience of our Redeemer can result in a joy that rests on heads that have become free from sorrow and sighing.

Psalms 11:7 ASV For Jehovah is righteous; He loveth righteousness: The upright shall behold his face.

Luke 10:21 ASV In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight.

If only you could control everyone with whom your child comes in contact. As soon as there is any interaction with others at school, on the playground, or at friends’ houses, there is an opportunity for them to begin seeing things from a different point of view. They may seem to be wonderful little creatures with happy faces and pure motives and actions until, magically, there is some objectionable word used or some errant behavior displayed that was never there until they were around ‘Judy’ or ‘Johnny’. Their perceptions, how they see life, and their ability to do right have everything to do with who they’re seeing. The choice of friends will have everything to do with the choice of right and wrong.

I had this friend who lived in the house right across the alley from us in Castle Rock. He was a charming young man whom I looked up to and from whom I was a given a perspective that was quite different from that which I’d been given in our home. He showed me how to emulate smoking with the smoke from matches. I went with his family to the pool hall on Main Street. (just wasn’t the type of place we would normally frequent) From him I also learned how to fail at putting out a fire in the vacant lot next to the church and how to hide while the Fire Department put the fire out. I’m sure there were additional words, attitudes, and behaviors that were shown to me as a result of the moments spent with the neighbor boy, and I’m sure there were a great many of them that would never have been learned if my Dad had been there with us. Somehow his presence always seemed to make things look much different. It still does.

So what is it about babes that qualifies them to see certain things that cannot be seen by the ‘wise and understanding’, and how is it that Jesus directed in Matthew 18:3 for us to become as little children? It would seem that acquiring wisdom and understanding were the reasons for partaking of the fruit in the garden and the only way Adam and Eve could have come up with this notion was by hanging out with the neighborhood snake. What took them from their childlike innocence and stripped them of their ability to behold God in His glory had everything to do with who they were beholding. Even though God knew what they were up to and could see their actions and the motives of their hearts, somehow their focus on the serpent and his enticing words caused them to lose sight of their Father’s face. Their ability to choose correctly was greatly altered by their newfound maturity and they completely lost sight of the higher ways of God’s heart. If somehow they could have kept His image before them their encounter with temptation would have left them no less innocent and still completely childlike.

I’m so grateful that there is a way back to the innocence, that there is a rebirth that makes the Father’s face and His presence and His ways visible to even those of us who have left physical childhood long ago. In seeking His face early, in keeping it continually before the eyes, there is an awakening of those eyes to those things that will only be seen by those who are His babes, His children. When the neighborhood faces rise with propositions of various considerations, the pure fixation on the face of the Father will preserve the purity and innocence provided in redemption and keep the eyes clear to what He desires to reveal to His children.

14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.Psalms 19:14 (KJV)

Especially since 9/11 there is a stringent security process through which you must pass in order to be a passenger on a commercial flight. Special scanning machines look through cases, clothes, and even mettle to determine the nature of the content within. Why is this so necessary? Because the criminal intent of a passenger can be subverted if what he has concealed in his luggage can be seen. My brother-in-law works for Homeland Security in the Tulsa airport, and he said that color codes represent various densities and shapes as objects pass through the scanner. He showed me a picture of one bag that had contained a loaded pistol of a woman that claimed she had just forgotten to remove it upon arrival at the airport. You could clearly see the pistol’s shape outlined in a color that set it apart from the other objects in her carry-on.

For every unrighteous activity there is an available screening process that is guaranteed to subvert its action. For those whose desire it is to be free of destructive and unholy behaviors there is an option to have all that is concealed within our luggage revealed in the sight of our Father. Although He already sees all and knows each of our hearts, when this is realized and brought to light in the wonder of His presence, there is an opportunity for His security to remove and destroy all those things that are deemed dangerous. Even those things we might have overlooked or just forgotten will be readily brought to light in His sight and made to be unacceptable not only to Him, but to us. While every flight taken without screening has great risk of evil actions, the one that has gone through the screening and removal procedure has very little potential for danger. Where the heart no longer conceals any dangerous substance, and where it has been allowed to undergo the Master’s acceptance or rejection, there will be a safe, joyful, and peaceful passage to our place of productivity in the Kingdom.

The continual place of worship, where an awareness of the Father’s screening is a passionate choice for every moment, is the way to holiness and righteousness for this day. Actions originate in the heart and where their substance is revealed in its shapes and colors, the Father’s acceptance will impact and greatly affect them. May His seeing expose all potential danger in the heart and may our passage be one without mishap to the place of righteousness where the fruit is all good.

There’s nothing like a huge meal to annihilate a huge appetite. That was pretty much my condition from the Thanksgiving meal through the next couple of days thereafter. Continual grazing of leftovers and desserts never allowed the feeling of hunger to actually return. That never ending fullness, especially with such wonderful food was a most enjoyable experience, although I’m sure it wouldn’t be very healthy over an extended period of time.

Hunger, as it applies to food and many other areas of life such as fellowship, knowledge, leisure time, and productivity can be a strong motivation towards what is necessary in life. However, it can also open up areas of vulnerability, where something of great value is willingly offered in exchange for the filling of that hunger. This was seen in the case of Esau who came home from a hunting trip so hungry that he was willing to give up the most valuable thing in his life, his birthright. The 34th verse of Genesis 25 says that he actually despised his most valuable possession because of hunger, something that a simple bowl of porridge would fill. Jesus, on the other hand, was surely way more hungry than Esau could have been, and yet He was so full of the Holy Spirit that the temptations to fill His natural hunger were ineffective. He was already full with a huge meal that annihilated any other appetite He might develop. He could never be persuaded to part with His most valuable possession for the enticements of a few gratified appetites. There was a fullness He had from His relationship with His Father that disabled all other hungers.

There is no need for us today to part with any treasure that’s been given to us by our Father God. Rather than letting our enemy take advantage of any part of our life that has a voice of hunger, there is an opportunity every day for the feasting at the table provided for us in God’s presence to eliminate all other hungers and thirsts. In worship and in the reception of His Word into our hearts there is a great filling up that will refuse any giving in to the temptations our enemy might present. Whenever we find ourselves in a condition that, by earthly reasoning would justify compromise, there is a way of escape in God that will be a most pleasurable experience of continuous grazing and uninterrupted fullness. Where He has filled, there is no room for another.

1 If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. 3 For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory.

Col 3:1-4 (ASV)

I met a man yesterday in a neighborhood close to a very large church we’ve enjoyed attending from time to time. I was impressed by the man’s personality as he warmly welcomed me to his home and treated me with what appeared to be sincere appreciation and consideration. While I did some work for him, I was wondering if he might attend the nearby church as he seemed to display a joy and appreciation for life that would well represent a child of God. When I did later ask him about this, though, he immediately revealed to me that he had some major challenges to his ‘faith’. As a child he had been a part of a religious organization who’s leader had, by abusing some of the other children, completely disrupted his ability to believe in anything that man had represented. He asked very passionately, “How could this be allowed to happen?”

Though there has been an experience with God, a transformation made, and maybe even a position of ‘leadership’ attained, there still remains this variable of ‘how’ as my new friend expressed it, and ‘if’ as Paul presented in the second and third chapters of Colossians. How can someone be anything other than holy and without blame if there is indeed a God and they would represent Him, and if one has been risen with Christ, then shouldn’t there be corresponding actions? To be born again, it would seem, is not just a single choice that forever changes all subsequent actions and behaviors, but it is rather the first of a lifetime of choices that will either reflect the face and image of Christ or some other identity that is far below the place where He’s seated at the right hand of God.

Where something is ‘sought’ there is a demonstration of passion and desire, and from what Paul has indicated this is something that can be set. There is an opportunity given to each of us to either allow our hearts to be taken by things that are above in Christ or things that are below and by this ‘setting’ there is an ability and capacity gained to actually act the part rather than just errantly bear the name. The initial belief in Christ that is followed by a confession of Him as Lord is a wonderful experience of rebirth, but to actually ‘be’ in Christ is an ongoing choice that will be directly demonstrated in Godly actions. Anything that’s already been attained spiritually or mentally will be rendered meaningless in every subsequent moment where another lower thing is sought, resulting in an action that raises the questions of ‘how?’ and ‘if?’. The reality of what it means to be in Christ will never be altered by those who would claim to be there and act differently, and yet the testimony and ability to walk in its power, authority and freedom will only be well represented in the lifestyle of the one who has set their mind and affections on higher things and allowed their behavior to be transformed by this fixation.

Every moment in worship has its reward in life and every setting of passions and desires will be directly reflected in a life that demonstrates what it really means to be in Christ- doesn’t really matter who you are or what you’ve already done- it’s a choice of the moment.

25 For he that doeth wrong shall receive again for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Col 3:25 (ASV)

Judges 1:28 KJV  And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

Judges 2:1-2 KJV  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.  (2)  And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

A great liberation has taken place with the intense bondage of a dominating government being escaped for the promise of complete freedom in a promised land. The price has been paid and the way has been made through the blood of Jesus to a place where no restrictions or restraints may ever again prohibit the liberty that is ours in Christ. To fully occupy this new domain, however, there can be no compromise whatsoever with the land to be occupied. To allow any of those old gods and old ways to remain is to errantly permit the existence of the greatest threat to continued freedom. At some point along the way any living opposition will become a thorn and source of great pain and disorder to the way of holiness that is the purpose, the intention and the possibility for the child of God.

There is this wonderful substance I love to consume call an apple fritter. It really should be good for you, too, because it does have apples and …… well, you know, it’s got good stuff in it- tastes heavenly anyway. The problem is that this wonderful pastry, along with many other food substances that get my mouth to watering have within them ingredients that will disrupt the health and functionality of this God-designed body. Over time if willfully included in my diet they will produce an excess amount of weight, cause problems with blood-flow, and present a welcome environment for cancer and other disease. It is so good to feel strong and healthy, but the only problem with these moments is that there can also be a feeling of invincibility and resistance to a condition that surely won’t have the same affect as it has in someone else. Just a little fritter here or a burrito there surely won’t be harmful to someone who is obviously so strong and healthy. The only problem is that any detrimental substance will begin to build up, take root and begin to establish eventual weakness and debilitating sickness. If strength could just be a motivation for further resistance to the destructive substance and ways rather than a motivation for compromise, it would never have to be compromised by the ‘little’ pleasures and passions.

Even more potentially destructive than my precious fritter is that attitude, that anger, that bitterness and that revenge that is allowed to remain in a person designed for holiness, righteousness, peace, forgiveness and love. It might seem they are small, especially in times when weakness doesn’t seem to be a problem. Just a little taste might not appear to be all that detrimental where strength is apparent, but if allowed to live and remain as a resident it will eventually grow to dominate and undermine any strength that once seemed invincible. Just a tiny bit of yeast will affect the whole loaf, and just a miniscule seed will grow to be a massive tree, so the least bit of unrighteousness allowed to remain will eventually bring diversion and failure to a life that was meant for God’s glory. With so much to be enjoyed in God today, may those things that will eventually cause heart failure be passed up for the purity of holiness and may those seemingly small tidbits of compromise be put in the garbage disposal rather than consumed and allowed to infest.