(Originally sent 04.24.01 - Rewritten for today.)

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. - James 1:13-15.

The creek waters were only a foot deep where the two large earthmovers were making emergency repairs to the Haikey Creek Bridge in Tulsa. But then the track came off one of the machines and it began to sink in the mud. They tried to pull the sinking earthmover out with the other machine but it too began to sink. Daryl Maxville, a maintenance supervisor said, "They were pretty well buried. The only thing you could see was the cab." Workers built a temporary dam and were finally able to rescue their equipment. One of the operators said that "working in the creek wasn’t a big problem until the mud worked its way through the creek bed."

For Christians, there is a lot of mud out there that we must avoid and it all begins with just a little mud. There is so much mud around us on TV and on the Internet. It is easy to grow used to having the mud around us. Stepping in some mud here and there. We become so used to the mud that before long, we are wading in it up to our waists and before we know what has happened to us, it will sink us.

It has been said that if you "sow a thought you will reap an act. Sow an act; reap a habit. Sow a habit; reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny." Romans 13:14 says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Another translation says, "Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." That is where the mud starts with the thoughts and the dwelling and contemplating upon those sinful desires.

A literal translation of James 1:15 would be, "Desire, having conceived, continually gives birth to sin, and sin, when it reaches maturity, continually gives birth to death." As you can see, it goes quickly from bad to worse. Before you throw a track and start sinking in the mud of sin put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of thinking about all of the mud, start thinking about the good things - as the apostle Paul suggests in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever, things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things." There is nothing better to think about than our Lord Jesus and His Word.

What have you been thinking about lately? What have you been watching and listening to lately? Remember, it does not take very much mud at all to begin to cause all kinds of problems. Before you take that next step - watch out for the mud!