Watch Yourself

If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. – Genesis 4:7

It requires some level of maturity to do what is right – not just some of the time but all of the time. The society we live in today has made it very easy to do whatever we want provided it is within the limits of the law. Even when there are reprehensible laws surrounding certain actions, you will find those who believe they are smarter than the rest of the world or that don’t put any thoughts behind their actions that will attempt to break the law and get away with criminal activity.

If you do not watch what you do and the company you keep, soon you will find yourself swimming in the sea of trouble and despair. For instance, you recently gave up smoking and alcohol and you are doing what you can to keep you lungs and liver healthy but you spend all weekend in the bar with your friends who still do the very things you are trying to get away from. It won’t be long before you are back to your old ways. Yes – you can still hold on to your friends but you have no reason to hang out with them in the den of temptation. Maybe they can hang out with you in your home or in a place where smoking and drinking anything stronger than Orange Juice is not allowed.

The recent hands free cell-phone law is another classical example. The law is simple – do not use your cell-phone while you drive unless you have some sort of hands-free device. But everyday you see men and women talking on their cell-phones without hand-free devices. Many are aware of the law but they choose to take a chance. Then there are the ignorant folks who are still free to text message as they drive. The act of text messaging was somehow missed when the law was passed. Why take a chance? Why not choose to do what is right and keep your phone in your trunk if you cannot buy a hands-free device? FYI, if you are one of those taking a chance, one day you will get caught. It’s not about whether the fine is $5 or $500, it’s just ridiculous to be caught doing something that we all know is wrong to do.


We all have good intentions but trying to get away from bad company is like being a changed crab in a bucket full of naughty crabs. The more you try to claw your way out of the bucket, the more the other naughty crabs grab at you and drag you back in with them. The Bible tells us to submit our lives to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us. We have no power to resist evil on our own. We definitely need the Holy Spirit for strength to resist temptation – its’ in our faces everywhere we turn. We need God’s help to reign over sin. As believers, our only defense against sin and evil is the Blood of Jesus Christ. Our flesh is always warring against our spirit. It is our relationship with God that allows our spirit to reign over our flesh in the face of temptation. The flesh always gravitates towards what is evil. The Bible says there is nothing good about the human flesh.

Do you make a choice to do what is right or do you constantly go with the flow? Are you controlled by the Spirit of God that dwells inside of you or do you constantly ignore that still small voice that tries to guide you and go off to do your own thing? Check yourself before you wreck yourself.