Three Keys to a Successful Summer – II

So, how has it gone the past couple of days with keeping our tongues from evil and our lips from deceitful speech? I have had a few victories and more than a couple of defeats as well. But regardless of my stumbling, I am heading toward honoring God with my tongue!

Our passage on Monday was 1 Peter 3: 10 – 12:

For, whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

The second key: Turn from evil and do good.

Turn. Action required. Change needed. An implication is here; we are or can have a tendency to head in the wrong direction requiring us to turn.

This key of turning involves two steps; one negative and one positive.

Turn from evil. Before we can turn from something, we need to know what that thing is that we need to turn from. In this case, it is evil.

What does evil look like? Let’s stop for a moment and take a tour of a typical day in our lives.
What does evil look like?
The temptation to judge the women in front of us in the grocery store?
A curt remark to our child about their attitude?
An ungrateful heart for our home, car or job?

Yesterday afternoon I was practicing driving with my daughter. She had chosen a radio station in Charlotte, which of all things, plays the songs from the ’80’s, which of course was a great time period! (My son once made the observation that in the ’80’s they talked about all the same things that they talk about in songs now, they were just a little bit more vague about it.) She was doing a great job navigating through a very busy road, so I began to relax a bit and as I did, I listened to the words of the song coming over the air waves. It definately wasn’t the kind of song I would encourage her listen to. “Turn it” my spirit instructed me. “I don’t want to rile her up” my mind called back. “Turn it” the wisdom came a second time. “I really don’t want to start an arguement now. If he says that line one more time, I’ll turn it.” “You are whimping out and not turning from evil” the truth rang in my heart and yet, there I sat, not wanting to start something.

That, my friends, is my example of not turning from evil. When you see it. When you hear it. When you know it; it is time to turn from it. I’m preaching to me!

(When we drove later in the day, I did make a choice to let her know that I didn’t want to listen to that station any more. It actually went quite well.)

What is the evil in your life, in the lives of your kids, that you need to turn from? Share with us; maybe you’ll pour some wisdom in our lives.

And where can we do good? We’ll talk more on that Friday.

Happy Wednesday!

Lynn

Lynn

2 Comments

  1. Andrea Bailey says:

    I am really struggling with the tv. I want to turn from the evil of it and the shows that I watch but I find myself resisting doing that. I have approached my husband about getting rid of the cable but he is reluctant to do that…he is a tv hound, too. I could really use some prayer on this one.

  2. Andrea,
    Lots of us struggle with this one. It is just so easy to plop down on the couch and have the night go away. May the Lord give you strength to follow your heart!
    Lynn

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