TODAY IS…

a fine day to keep your eyes open.

“Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.”  Proverbs 4:25 NASB

It is easy to become distracted sometimes in today’s world.

There is so much going on around us that sometimes we may be tempted to become sidetracked by something we have seen or heard, causing us to stumble off the path of sin-free living and wander onto the path of sinful living.

It is not that it is so difficult to tell the difference between right and wrong, but sometimes those who ‘package’ the wrong do such a good job that they make us forget our true purpose and make us look away from our righteous destination.

When Solomon wrote the Proverbs, he was well aware of the influence that our hearts had over us. If we have filled our hearts with the spirit, we should always be getting the correct messages, but sometimes we allow ourselves to be fooled into just following sinful impulses. The consequences from closing our eyes to what we know is right can seem to be very small, but they can also be extremely unpleasant. Life is full of forbidden fruit, so to speak. Unfortunately, we do not have God to tell us specifically which choices are forbidden, but with daily prayer and reading of the Bible, our eyes will be opened wider to the dangers that seem to be everywhere.

In an age of rampant permissiveness, it is more difficult than ever to stay focused on living life in a decent, moral manner, observant of God’s guidelines for our behavior.

We must set the boundaries for our behavior and our thoughts, then we must keep our eyes open so we can be on guard against temptations and also to see the beauty and joy that can come from living as a follower of Christ.

Obviously we must close our eyes to sleep, but we should never close them to excuse bad behavior. When we were children, hiding under the covers worked. If we couldn’t see the monster, the monster wasn’t there.

But we all know that was childish.

Come out from under the covers, open your eyes, and watch where you are going.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson