CABL Forum - Principle #3

Principle #3
It is easier to keep the heart clean than to clean it after it has been defiled.

Oh, what a truth this is! When my wife and I were first married, I had quite a few lessons to learn. I was a 28-year-old bachelor and was not accustomed to cleaning up after myself. My favorite meal was Chili-n-Fries Surprise (the recipe is available for a small charge). My wife refused to cook it because of the extreme mess that the grease and chili sauce would make on her white stove. I was forced to suffer. However, a friend of my wife’s asked her to work a few hours every Monday afternoon at her beauty supply store. She consented and I was left to fend for myself in order to obtain dinner on Monday nights. Praise the Lord, Chili-n-Fries Surprise! In my desire to consume this long awaited meal, I overlooked the cleaning of the stove. When the next Monday rolled around, I found the chili sauce and grease stains from the previous week’s delicatessen still splattered on my wife’s stove. It was gross, and there was no way I could prepare a meal on this filth. When my wife arrived home later that evening, I asked her when she was planning on cleaning the stove. BIG MISTAKE. Our first fight. I learned a valuable lesson that night. After an hour of scrubbing, I learned it is easier to keep a kitchen stove clean than to clean it after it has been stained.
This is the same truth we are taught in the Bible. Over and over again we are faced with examples of people who chose to associate with sin with hopes that it would not lead them to a sinful condition. Lot was a righteous man (IIPeter 2:8) yet he chose to associate with ungodly men (Psalm 1:1a), he had day to day contact with sin (Psalm1:1b), and he allowed the people around him to decay into moral wickedness with no good use for God (Psalm 1:1c). Yes, Lot’s life was ultimately spared by God. However, he in no way prospered (Psalm 1:3). The last we hear of him, he is getting drunk and committing terrible sins (Genesis 19). How can this mistake be avoided in your life? Follow these two simple verses:
Prov 22:3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Prov 6:27-28 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

Remember: If you do what you’ve always done, then you will be what you’ve always been.

Prov 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues (important things) of life.

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Principle #3