The Way Down

The Psalmist declares, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers" (Ps 1:1).  In this declaration, he clearly lays out the progression of sin as opposed to something that just happens.

So often someone caught in an affair will say, "I didn't mean for this to occur, it just happened."  Or one one caught taking money from til might say, "I don' know how this happened, one thing just led to another and..."  The defense is an innocence of ignorance, that the sin had a life if its own, not something put in motion by the one caught. Really?  No, not really!

The reality is that one takes a path down into the pit of sin, he doesn't just suddenly fall without warning. For instance a man may respond to some "innocent" flirting (walk), then go for an "innocent" lunch (stand) and finally light the flame of an affair by going somewhere to be alone (sit)."

We really don't just wake up one day transformed into a thief or an adulterer or an addict or a whatever type of sin condition one might find himself hip-deep involved in. We take a journey the step-by-step brings us along a downward path.

The New Testament puts it this way: "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (Jas 1:13-15).

The way down is not so much a slip and a fall as it is a step followed by another and another until one is reaches a place he/she might never have believed he/she would have gone. From where you started to where you wind up feels like it took a life of its own and just happened but it mist certainly did not. The way down is a progression of decisions every step of the way. Jus' Say'n.