Morning and Evening

July 25, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." — Genesis 39:12 · KJV

When we contend with certain sins, there is no way to win but by flight. The old naturalists wrote of the basilisk, whose gaze fascinated its victims and left them easy prey; so the mere look of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from evil deeds must hasten away from the occasions of them. Make a covenant with your eyes not even to look upon what tempts you, for such sins need only a spark, and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would willingly enter the leper's cell and sleep amid its filth? Only one who wished to be leprous himself would court the contagion. Cautious pilots have no desire to see how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; they aim to keep to the middle of a safe channel. This day I may be exposed to great peril; let me have the serpent's wisdom to avoid it. The wings of a dove may serve me better today than the jaws of a lion. I may seem a loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I be rich, but it is imperative that I be pure. No ties of friendship, no charm of beauty, no flash of talent, no shaft of ridicule must turn me from the resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist, and he will flee from me; but the lusts of the flesh I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness, preserve Your Josephs, that the world's enticements bewitch them not with their vile suggestions. May the world, the flesh, and the devil never overcome us.

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