Stay Out Of The Woods!

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

In 2 Samuel 18, there was a huge battle, and 20,000 men were killed. The interesting part of this story is that the Bible tells us that “the woods devoured more that day than the sword devoured.” The woods did to God’s people what their enemies could not. These men of God were not slain because they couldn’t handle the enemy. They were slain because they put themselves in the wrong environment. The woods can represent worldliness, temptation, and sin. Jesus said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) 

Many people feel they must try sin to know they don’t need it. You don’t have to go there to find out you don’t belong there. You don’t have to taste sin to find it bitter. Stay out of the woods! You don’t even have to try it. God’s grace is so great it can keep you out of all the pain and hurt the woods offer you. There’s danger in the woods. There’s power in the woods over you. Don’t place yourself in situations, environments, and settings in which you have no business. 

The great Apostle Paul said that we’re in the world but not of the world. In Romans 12:2, he said, “Don’t let your mind be conformed to the thinking of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” He is saying not to let the same affections, morals, lifestyle, and standards of the world begin to govern your life. You live in the world but don’t have to do stuff just because everybody else does it. We’re not called to imitate the world. We’re called to be different so we can make a difference. And if people don’t know you’re a Christian, it’s probably because you’re not.  

The Bible said that King David was a great warrior. On one occasion, when the king went to war, he stayed home in his bedroom. He put himself in the wrong environment. Soldiers don’t belong in the bedroom; they belong on the battlefield. Because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, he looked over his balcony and saw Bathsheba bathing, which eventually led him to commit adultery with another man’s wife. That small decision to be in the wrong place opened the door to sin.

Never underestimate the power your environment has over your life. It can make or break you.

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