Fleeing temptation sure becomes less of a figurative ideal and much more of a literal concept when you’re training your children, doesn’t it? Does anybody else have a child who if you say, “Don’t touch the outlet” will then put his finger on the wall as close to the outlet as possible without actually touching it? That child has not yet learned the value of fleeing temptation. I came around the corner the other day to find my foster daughter putting my make-up back in my make-up bag. She knows she’s not supposed to handle those things and with each item she picked up she very firmly said to it, “No touch! No touch!” She’s coming so close to understanding that she shouldn’t give in, but she hasn’t yet learned to flee. I think my four year-old is getting a little better at understanding such things because as we prepped him for what kind of behavior is unacceptable at preschool he told us, “And if the other kids are doing that naughty thing I will RUN and tell the teacher.” Now we’re getting somewhere!
And as I’m focusing so much on teaching my kids how to avoid temptation, am I being that proactive in my own life? As the issues which seemed so black and white in my childhood now become more and more gray, am I clearly identifying sin and running in the other direction? When I want to be lazy, or gossip, or give in to anger am I justifying my actions or am I going to get serious about sin and flee? Even when it makes me unusual, even when it makes me uncomfortable, I want to be a good example to my kids of how important holiness is in my life. I want to role model that being obedient to God is always my highest priority.