Wednesday, September 11, 2002
"Leave It to Beaver" was a classic 1950s TV show. No, it was not about wildlife - it was about a suburban family with two kids, older brother Wally and a slightly off-beat son affectionately called "Beaver." Recently, a new "Beaver" series surfaced on cable TV. Someone told me about one new show where "Beaver" gets a new bicycle - and he loses a new bicycle. Big brother Wally asks "the Beave" what happened to his bike. Beaver tells him about this kid who asked if he could use his bike to show him some neat tricks. The problem was that, with every trick, the kid went a little farther with the bicycle. You can probably guess what trick he was going to do - he disappeared with the bicycle. Beaver says, "You know, He stole it a little bit at a time."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Losing It Gradually."
There's another thief who operates with that same modus operandi - Satan. He wants to steal from you your closeness to God and all the benefits that go with doing things God's way. He is, the Bible says, the "roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8) and the "thief" who comes "only to steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10)
Beaver would have tried to stop that boy if he had just tried to run off with his bike. But he didn't resist when the thief stole it "a little bit at a time." The devil knows that strategy. And he may be stealing from you right now - and you can't see what he's doing because it's gradual. Until one day you'll wonder how you lost it all.
This slow seduction is profiled in Psalm 1:1, our word for today from the Word of God. David says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." Now, we don't start out expecting to settle down in a sinful place or a sinful way of living. We just walk a little ways with a sinful thought or action. But pretty soon we're not just passing by it - we're "standing in the way of sinner." We're a little more involved now. Eventually, we are sitting where we never thought we'd sit - all settled into a sin that with which we were only going to "take a little walk."
There's how we end up where we never thought we'd go, doing things we never thought we'd do, paying a price we never thought we'd pay. Flirtation, then fascination, and finally fixation. Satan doesn't bring you down by explosion - he does it by erosion. Just a little compromise. Just a little taste. Just a little lowering of your guard. Just a little companionship for your loneliness. Just a little curiosity to see what it's like.
No one sets out to commit adultery, to weave a web of lies, to lose their integrity, to mortally wound their marriage or their children. Nobody sets out to destroy the people they love, to get addicted, or to end up far from God. But we fall for the "little bit at a time" strategy of the enemy who wants to devour us.
We would never let him do it if he tried to do it all at once. But could it be that you have slowly let your mind and your heart, your attention, your attitude wander away from God's way? Please - open your eyes and see what's happening - before you go any deeper ... before it's harder to stop ... before you pay the very high price that's just ahead.
The thief is trying to steal your soul a little bit at a time. Don't let it happen!