BBD 07.12.04 Running With The Bulls
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
like to encourage you to visit this great site at http://www.crossmap.com. Crossmap
has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit
Crossmap’s sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at
http://www.christianpost.com.
The Burning Bush Devotional
(Over 13,000 subscribers in 75 countries)
07.12.04
Running With The Bulls
Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.
Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they do
not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless
they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the
wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that
shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like
darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, give attention
to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from
your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those
who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all
diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a
deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look
straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of
your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or
the left; remove your foot from evil. - Proverbs 4:14-27.
The Navarra governmental website states that, “Hospitals attended nine
people after the third bull run, four of them with injuries caused by bulls'
horns.” This is the region in northern Spain where the world famous festival
of the Running of the Bulls is held at Pamplona each year. The Pamplona
fiesta in honor of St. Fermin has been held for centuries and thousands of
people attend with many participating in the dangerous running of the bulls.
Since 1910, fifteen people have been killed and many many more injured.
I have often wondered what motivates a person to intentionally place
themselves into dangerous situations like the Running of the Bulls. Maybe it
is the hope of being able to go home and say that they had ran with the
bulls using this as a source of future bragging rights. For others maybe it
is just the lust for danger that they have. In a film directed by Frank
Coppola a young man asks another what he wants to do and he answers,
“Nothing legal, that’s for sure!” It is the same kind of attitude that some
have which throws them into the midst of bulls risking their lives for a
little excitement.
Solomon warns of the great risks we are taking when we knowingly place
ourselves into the path of sin. Sin is like a bull, which is impossible to
control. The path of the running of the bulls is well marked and the path of
sin is also well marked. The warning of Solomon still rings out accurately
today, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of
evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on.” Why?
Because the bulls of sin, “…do not sleep unless they have done evil; and
their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the
bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.” The path of sin is
clearly a most dangerous way to travel.
The fact is that we do not have to run with the bulls. No, we can take
another path. Solomon says of this path, “But the path of the just is like
the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Which path
are you on?
Copyright © 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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