We had an event at a school in Wolmaransstad. The people warned us that the roads in the town weren’t that good. You know we don’t actually realise what potholes are here in the Western Cape.

We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Potholes of all sizes covered the roads. In one spot it was so bad that we had to do what the other vehicles were doing and drive on the pavement – it was quicker.

It’s so sad to see the infrastructure in our country going downhill like this. If a small hole in the road surface is attended to immediately, it would never get so bad.

But because things are not addressed immediately, the small hole is filled with water after the rain. The water softens the upper layer and when a car drives over it, the water and that thin layer splashes out.

And the process repeats itself until the hole is so big that you can lose a wheel if you do not swerve in time to avoid the pothole.

What happens when we do wrong things is kind of similar. A small thought that might not be that fresh pops up out of nowhere. Maybe about something we want. And the more you think about it, the deeper grows the hole, until we take action. Then the hole become so big that eventually you get lost in it.

We are so easily deceived. We easily say, “Well, it won’t do any harm,” but before we know it, we end up with a lot of guilt and many hurt people around us.

¹⁴The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin!

We get drawn in deeper and deeper. Without realising it, the innocent small hole grows into a big hole. So big that eventually we cannot get out of it, and chances are that we might die of hunger and thirst caught inside it.

A wrong deed doesn’t happen by itself. No, it starts with a small thought. Nobody will know if I take a rand or two, but as you get used to that extra income, another zero is added now and then, until it grows too big not to be seen.

Let’s focus on getting rid of the wrong thoughts in our heads. Let’s fit a filter to our thoughts to filter out all the thoughts that are off. Those thoughts that we know are not within God’s will.

Let’s fill up the small hole before it becomes a big hole. Then we won’t be misled into chasing after the wrong things.

Scripture
James 1:12-18

Reflection
What thoughts should you get rid of?
How will you do it?
Can you replace them with other thoughts?

Prayer
Our Father, I realise all too well the truth about those small, innocent, wrong thoughts. I know they quickly grow into big ones. So big that we struggle to get away from them. Help me get those wrong thoughts out of my head and keep them out. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.