...my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird...

   - Proverbs 1.15-17

Do not plunge headlong
by the road of mortals,
on which you see for many
shipwreck has occurred.
Step between the nets
with hesitant feet,
for by those nets the rest
we see were caught up unawares.

 - Columbanus, On the World’s Impermanence, Irish, 7th century

A close friend told me a story that I found astonishing.

One of his students was guilty of plagiarizing in a paper, but when he confronted her, she expressed shock that her mother-in-law would do such a thing!

She didn’t see anything wrong with letting her mother-in-law do her homework, but she was shocked – shocked! – to think that she would plagiarize.

Oh yes: this woman is a believer.

We are becoming a community of Christians who are no longer able to recognize sin. So we keep stepping in its traps and getting yanked up into uncomfortable situations where we never expected to be. Only 46% of all those who describe themselves as “born again” believe in absolute truth, according to Barna. Add to this the general disregard – if not outright scorn – for the Law of God, which defines sin (Rom. 7.7), and it’s not so hard to understand what’s happening to us as a community.

Increasing numbers of us don’t recognize sinful actions as such and are constantly falling through temptation into disobedience and rebellion, without understanding what’s happening. If we are not faithfully listening to the voice of God saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” then we won’t recognize the snares and nets of sin that strew our path. We’ll just go crashing on and getting tripped up by all manner of worldly obstacles, and we’ll be no Kingdom use to anyone.

Hugh of St. Victor (1096-1141) identified five steps in the process of true learning: reading (or instruction), meditation (to let it sink in), prayer (to sort it out and put it in perspective), performance (living it out), and contemplation (in which the whole process is referred to Christ exalted and the coming Kingdom of God). Real growth in truth occurs only at the completion of this process. But if we don’t have time for the first step, we’ll never achieve much in the way of true learning. We’ll always be plunging along in the way of everybody else, carried by the culture of getting and spending, never managing to realize any abiding purpose or direction for our lives, and never meaning anything lasting to anyone.

What about you? Is the Word of God the lamp unto your feet and light on your path it ought to be? Does it get the time, concentration, praying-in and living out that can help you realize God’s purpose for having called you into His Kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2.12)? By it are you avoiding the pitfalls and snares of the impermanent world?

Only in the light of God’s Word can you discern the nets and snares that will confront you each day.

Psalm 19.7, 8 (St. Christopher: “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”)
The Law of God is perfect, His testimony sure;
The simple man God’s wisdom learns, the soul receives its cure.
God’s Word is right, and His command is pure, and truth imparts;
He makes our eyes to understand; with joy He fills our hearts.

Guard me in the way, O Lord, as I hide Your Word in my heart.