Playing with Fire

I remember childhood friends who could put out a lit match by pinching the flame with their thumb and forefinger. It looked rather daring to those of us who had never tried it and did not know the ‘trick.’

Everything was fun and games until one of my buddies accidentally pinched the head off a lit match and burned a blister on his thumb.

If you 'play with fire, sooner or later you are bound to get burned.'

'Playing with fire' is an expression that describes taking an unwarranted risk in a dangerous or questionable situation. A person who ‘plays with fire’ intentionally places himself in danger, usually with a sense of confidence. Due to inexperience in life, young people often ‘play with fire.’

Solomon wrote:
   Keep your way far from her,
   And do not go near the door of her house.
   --Proverbs 5:8

He was warning his son to stay far away from the house of the adulteress. It should be applied today as a general warning against sexual immorality.

We might have expected, “keep your feet” or “keep your eyes” or “keep your heart” far from her. Yet, Solomon said, “keep your way” far from her. The simple point is that YOU are the one who ultimately chooses your way. So, you should make your choice so that your path in life does not come near the house of the adulteress.

Applied to our day: Make your choice so that your path in life does not come near pornography, improper physical contact of your girlfriend, talking and joking about improper sexual behavior.

The closer a person gets to sexual impurity and the more they allow themselves to be teased by the imagined possibilities, then the more dangerous the circumstances. They invite temptation, paving the way to 'the door of her house.' How then will they keep from falling to the temptation.

Consider the next few verses from the same chapter to better understand the very real consequences of ‘playinng with the fire’ of sexual impurity.


   Lest you give your vigor to others, 
      And your years to the cruel one;
   Lest strangers be filled with your strength, 
      And your hard-earned goods go to the house of an alien;
   And you groan at your latter end, 
      When your flesh and your body are consumed;
   And you say, "How I have hated instruction! 
      And my heart spurned reproof!
   And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, 
      Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!
   --Proverbs 5:9-13


Sexual impurity robs you of your strength, your wealth, and the best years of your life by giving yourself to someone who does not care about you...all in exchange for a mere moment of pleasure.

Young men...choose now to keep you way pure.