Advice #5
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Falling snowflakes can’t hurt you, but an avalanche full of them can kill you. There’s something fatal about things massed together with force behind them.
So it is with influences. A single bad influence can be overcome, but massed together with the force behind it can devastate the soul. We heard our parents say, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” But they were not the authors of that great jewel of wisdom. The Apostle Paul wrote it (1 Cor. 15:33).
Every parent wants their children to choose good friends, but not every adult follows that same principle. Most parents carefully guard what their children watch on TV and read, but not every adult does likewise.
I’ve come to a conclusion: Immoral influences harm even big men. You might think you could discern for yourself what influence films, television and other forms of entertainment have on you. Not always so – what’s lodged in the memory has a way of digging itself up when you are in a weak moment.
Consider the wisdom of these words:
Prov 13:20 “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
2 Tim 2:16-17 “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.”
2 Pet 2:2-3 “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”
2 Pet 2:18-19 “Speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”
All of us could benefit from a lesson from Mom’s kitchen: it only takes a little bit of leaven to leaven the whole loaf. A little bit of darkness can extinguish the light in one’s soul.
A Message From HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Falling snowflakes can’t hurt you, but an avalanche full of them can kill you. There’s something fatal about things massed together with force behind them.
So it is with influences. A single bad influence can be overcome, but massed together with the force behind it can devastate the soul. We heard our parents say, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” But they were not the authors of that great jewel of wisdom. The Apostle Paul wrote it (1 Cor. 15:33).
Every parent wants their children to choose good friends, but not every adult follows that same principle. Most parents carefully guard what their children watch on TV and read, but not every adult does likewise.
I’ve come to a conclusion: Immoral influences harm even big men. You might think you could discern for yourself what influence films, television and other forms of entertainment have on you. Not always so – what’s lodged in the memory has a way of digging itself up when you are in a weak moment.
Consider the wisdom of these words:
Prov 13:20 “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
2 Tim 2:16-17 “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.”
2 Pet 2:2-3 “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”
2 Pet 2:18-19 “Speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”
All of us could benefit from a lesson from Mom’s kitchen: it only takes a little bit of leaven to leaven the whole loaf. A little bit of darkness can extinguish the light in one’s soul.
A Message From HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry
ADVICE DAD NEVER GAVE YOU
Ralph Sorter
Falling snowflakes can’t hurt you, but an avalanche full of them can kill you. There’s something fatal about things massed together with force behind them.
So it is with influences. A single bad influence can be overcome, but massed together with the force behind it can devastate the soul. We heard our parents say, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” But they were not the authors of that great jewel of wisdom. The Apostle Paul wrote it (1 Cor. 15:33).
Every parent wants their children to choose good friends, but not every adult follows that same principle. Most parents carefully guard what their children watch on TV and read, but not every adult does likewise.
I’ve come to a conclusion: Immoral influences harm even big men. You might think you could discern for yourself what influence films, television and other forms of entertainment have on you. Not always so – what’s lodged in the memory has a way of digging itself up when you are in a weak moment.
Consider the wisdom of these words:
Prov 13:20 “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
2 Tim 2:16-17 “But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.”
2 Pet 2:2-3 “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”
2 Pet 2:18-19 “Speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”
All of us could benefit from a lesson from Mom’s kitchen: it only takes a little bit of leaven to leaven the whole loaf. A little bit of darkness can extinguish the light in one’s soul.
A Message From HOPE’S
Marriage & Family Ministry