Changes

             A couple of years ago, we purchased our last piece of land on this earth in a local cemetery.  Our family has been involved with the U. S. Navy, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., and the ministry and now, retirement.  In all of those jobs you soon find yourself moving from one community to another.  We were talking with our daughter recently and counted up ten different moves before she reached her 16^th birthday. That's a lot of moving. In every case, there has always been something to get used to.  One of the most traumatic moves was from the country house in Orange County Virginia to the busy city street in Alexandria, Virginia.  The Country house had no traffic, no airplanes, no trains, no sirens and no outside lights.  About the only thing you heard at night was the sound of the whippoorwills.  At first, they were annoying and one time I counted a particular bird who made that sound seventeen times before it paused, but we soon became accustomed to them.  After moving to the big city, we were encountered the first night to the flight plans of National Airport, the shifting of train cars at the Potomac Railroad Yard, the city busses that came by almost every 20 minutes, the sirens of the police and fire department plus all of the street lights.  It was a great change to say the least.  After some time, we became used to the noise and then it was almost silent again even though the noise continued.  What had changed?  We had become accustomed to the sounds of the city.  What was drastic at first, became commonplace to all of us.   There is a strong lesson for us.  We can become accustomed to certain things in our life that were once forbidden but have now become accepted.  We get used to it and so therefore don't realize that we are becoming desensitized by what is going on around us. Second Timothy 2:22 says, "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."   

        Paul had a warning to Timothy and in that warning, he admonished young Timothy for flee youthful lusts.  Not only that, he also have him a different route to travel.  Not only was he to flee that which was evil, but he was to pursue after those things that were good.  It is a two way street.  The problem comes when we decide to mix the "sights and sounds" of the world into our Spiritual life.  The sins begin to creep into our lives just like the sounds of the street and the city life.  Soon, we don't realize that they are there.  Oh, they haven't been removed.  They still are present in our lives but the problem lies in that we are now accustomed to them and therefore not aware of what is happening.  So, don't become used to the evil things of life but keep your course true and straight.  Pursue after righteousness, faith, charity and peace.  Praise God for His working in our lives each and every day.