Morning, July 25

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out."

  Genesis 39:12

   In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by
   flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes
   fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere
   gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from
   acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be
   made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for
   such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an
   instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its
   horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would
   thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he
   would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious
   pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or
   how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is
   to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

   This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's
   wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of
   more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an
   apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my
   cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich,
   but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no
   chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must
   turn me from the wise 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 thy
   Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions.
   May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never
   overcome us!