Sparks

(Someone once joked about this in reference to Sparks, Nevada: It's the closest to Hell that you want to be - Hell, of course, being Reno. Anyway, that's not the point of this post.)

"It only takes a spark to get a fire going..." As I'm reminded of this old youth group song, I'm reminded of the brothers and sisters up at youth summer camp this week, along with all of the students. But this spark was also something that was mentioned in today's selection from Spurgeon's "Morning By Morning." Unlike the aforementioned song "Pass It On," the spark referred to here isn't referring to the spark of God's love that gets a fire going that you want to pass on to others. (I'll refrain from quoting the rest of this campy youth song.)

"A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look on the cause of temptation for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant." I was camping a couple weeks ago, and we had our fire going in our fire pit. (Smores are yummy... anyway...) The fire, as long as it was contained in that pit, was under control; outside of those confines, however, that fire could spread, devour, and cause much destruction. So it is with sin and temptation. (I know that this isn't the perfect example, but bear with me.) As long as that temptation is contained, it will cause little damage. Add another log to the fire and stoke it, and it will continue to grow. Continue to do this and will grow even further. Overdo it, and it may escape its containment and cause much damage - burn down your campsite; burn down the whole forest.

The point here is not to feed the fire and continue to stoke it to see how high and how hot it can get before it gets out of control. The point I want to get at is that all it takes is a little spark to get the fire going. If there's some wood and some kindling set, all it takes is a spark to get it going. Strike some stones together or use some flint to generate a spark, and whoosh you have a fire. Feed it, and it'll burn everything in its path.

Spurgeon's encouragement here is to not even mess around with that spark. Don't even look on that temptation. With reference to the eyes, I've been told this in the past: looking once isn't sin; continue looking, and it becomes sin. Temptation will happen; it's inevitable. How we respond to temptation is the key. If we continue to feed it, that temptation can and most likely will grow into sin. We need to head the other direction and flee from it. Like Joseph with Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39:12, "...he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside."

Application of this is not just limited to temptation in regards to lust. It goes beyond to all areas of life in which God can be replaced by our idols. Yes, flee from sin, but also free from the temptations that can cause those sins.