Beware Of Gradualism
“And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.” (Judges 14:7)
Today’s Morsel: When we think of gradualism, we think of something that changes gradually instead of rapidly. That’s why a person who has had a relationship with God and has tasted the sweet word and ways of God, doesn’t just up and quit serving Him. It is a gradual process. They usually, stop praying. Reading their Bible. Giving into the kingdom. And then it is missing church here and there. It’s the little changes that you can see in their life leading up to them backsliding and walking away from God. If you will notice the life of Samson, his parents were told by the angel: “Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13:4-5). Notice what God said that the vows of a Nazarite must be: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.” (Numbers 6:2-8) As a Nazarite, Samson probably should have never had been involved with such a woman. The Philistines were his enemy. His conversation with this woman began his gradual decline from what God had chosen him to be, know, and do; and it cost him his eyes and later his death. You may think that you have the power and can handle some of the places that you may go or the things that you may choose to do, but it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. The things of God must become a habit in your life, or you will soon start to compromise on truth. Stay close to God and hold fast to His way. Beware of gradualism in your life.
Sing: Standing on the Rock of Ages, safe from all the storms that rages, rich but not of Satan’s wages, I’m standing on the Solid Rock.
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