Imagine if someone walked into the middle of some public place and set down a bomb and pushed a button so that a red light started blinking. What do you think everyone in that area would do? What would you do? You would probably start running in the opposite direction. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, you would want to put as much distance between the bomb and yourself as possible. If it happened in Walmart, you wouldn’t finish your shopping, you would leave the cart right where its at, grab your kids and run for the parking lot. If it were in a movie theater, or restaurant, or at a concert, you wouldn’t finish the movie, the food, or the songs. You would high-tail it out of there.
We run because we because we know that if we are too close to the bomb, we could be badly hurt or worse by it.
God gives us lots of warnings in His Word. A famous example is found when God was talking to Cain. You see, Cain had been selfish with his blessings which led to envy of his brother. God told him, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you” (kind of like a bomb). God tells Cain, ‘You’re getting really close to this dangerous thing. Your selfishness and pride are bringing you closer to it. You need to turn around and run in the opposite direction by doing what is right.’ But Cain did not heed God’s warning. I wonder if Cain thought “I think I can still get just a little bit closer and be ok.”
Now a days we still have this same problem. God tells us “Look out! There’s a bomb! Don’t be greedy!” or “Run away from sexual impurity! It’s going to blow!” He warns us about what we wear, how we treat others, even about what we watch and listen to. However, there is no ‘line-in-the-sand’ showing the safe distance from these things. So why aren’t we putting as much distance between these bombs and ourselves? Instead, we usually take baby steps closer to them thinking that one step closer won’t make a difference.
If we would run away from a bomb to be sure to save our bodies, will we run away from ‘grey areas’ of the Bible to save our souls? We need to make sure that our souls are 10 miles inside the safe zone.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart – 2 Tim 2:22
Flee from sexual immorality – 1 Cor 6:18
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils…But as for you, O man of God, flee these things – 1 Tim 6:10-11
Abstain from every form of evil. – 1 Thes 5:22