Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?  Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?  Proverbs 6:27-28 NIV

Many of us love the look and the sound of a good fire.  My dad loved a fire.  He loved building a big fire in the fireplace or in the yard or pretty much anywhere for that matter.  I enjoy the warmth and the glow of a good fire on a cold day.  But although it is beautiful, it burns.

Have you been burned?  This scripture passage it actually taken out of a passage that is talking about a man committing adultery.  But we can apply it to pretty much any sin.  Sin looks good.  It is very inviting.  This is why we are tempted.  It lures us in.  So, are we helpless to resist sin?  No, not at all.  We must keep ourselves away from the temptation.  This is not always easy to do, because usually sin looks so much more attractive than righteousness.

Now, the problem with living a sin filled life is that eventually you feel God’s wrath.  God is patient, loving, and kind.  God gives us a chance to repent, but if we refuse to turn from our sinful ways, he will deal with us harshly. He may put people in our path that try to encourage us to turn to Him.  He may lead us to a good Bible teaching church.  He may try many things before he punishes us, but know this, if you don’t repent you lose in the end.  If you stand in a fire, you are going to get burned.  If you stand on coals or hold something very hot in your hand, you are going to get burned.  It’s not that you might get burned, it’s sure that you will get burned.

Yesterday we talked about making a choice between heaven and hell.  In the book of Revelation, John is shown the lake of fire.  It is revealed to him that those whose name was not found in the Lamb’s book of Life were thrown into the lake of fire.  Now, I don’t know about ya’ll but Louisiana is hot enough for me.  I don’t ever want to know what a lake of fire feels like.

Every day when we wake up we will be faced with choices.  We can walk with God or we can walk with the devil.  The devil will try to lure us into doing things his way.  He will convince us that this is the best way.  This way usually provides instant gratification, but disappointment in the end.  If we choose to walk with God, however, we may suffer at times.  We know, though, that we will reign victorious in the end.  We know that in the end, we will not be thrown into the lake of fire.  We will spend eternity in heaven with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I spent the first part of my adult life dancing way too close to the fire.  I tried to have one foot in the church and one foot in the world.  I wanted to party and have a good time throughout the week and give God that hour in church on Sunday.  It saddens me to think how I must have disappointed Him back then.  But on August 23, 2010 I finally broke down and told God that I would give my life to Him.  I told him that I couldn’t live with the chaos and stress anymore and that if He would just help me, I would commit my life to Him.  At that point, I repented of my sin and promised to do my best to be righteous and sin no more.  Now we all know that we are human beings and will sin, but there is a huge difference in making a mistake and living a life of unrepentant sin.  We all slip up at times and have to repent and strive to not make that same mistake again.  But prior to August 23, 2010 I had sin in my life that I was refusing to let go of. I was dancing way too close to the fire.

Do I still face problems in my life?  Absolutely, but the best thing about facing problems now is that God is with me.  God is so much bigger than any problem I may face on this earth.  God is so much more powerful than any enemy that can come against me.

God loves us.  His intention is for everyone to go to heaven.  He doesn’t want anyone to be thrown into the lake of fire, but we have a choice to make.

Every day that we are on this planet, we need to pray for God to be with us in times of trials and tribulations.  We need to pray for God to make us strong enough to resist the temptation to do things our way.  We need to be in a close relationship with Jesus Christ and learn to do things His way.  When we do this, he takes care of us.  He guards us and protects us and helps us to do the right thing.

My prayer for you today is that you will develop a habit of awaking each and every day and immediately spending time with God even if it is only a few minutes.  This will guard you as you go through the day and hopefully keep you away from the fire.

Hold God’s hand as you walk through the day.  Just as a father protects his child from getting too close to the fire, God does this same thing for us.  If we stay close to Him, He will protect us and keep us safe.

Stay safe and have a great weekend!