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The Core of Most Trouble
1 Corinthians 10:7
"Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
It seems like nearly every week you hear about another sports figure being arrested or getting himself in trouble with females. In recent years, many of the admired sports figures have lost their clean image because of revelations about improprieties with women or run-ins with the law. Society constantly tries to figure out why these public figures get themselves into so much trouble, but they continue to avoid the answer to the problem. Society wants to run to psychiatry to find out the problem when the Scriptures have the answer. The answer is found in the verse above.
The children of Isreal did wrong when they stopped working and started playing. Notice the verse says, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Accroding to the previous verse, you will notice that this lifestyle led Israel to doing "evil things." Because they stopped working, they had time on their hands to do evil. Their playing around got them into serious trouble.
One of the main reasons that sports figures get themselves into so much trouble is because they are playing when they should be working. The core of most trouble is playing when you should be working. Rarely do you find a person getting into trouble when they are working. Most people get into trouble when they have too much time on their hands and are playing.
When I was a teenage young man, I kept myself out of trouble by working. I often tell young people that I wasn't any better than they are, I was just busier than they are. I started working everyday at age 13 to keep my summers filled and to stay out of trouble. My parents did not have to force me to work, because it was my desire to work and stay out of trouble. My parents had chores for me around the house, I knew that work would keep me out of trouble.
Parents, the best way to keep your children from getting into trouble is to teach them the value of working. By allowing your children to sit and play video games and watch TV all day, you are teaching them to play and not work. Don't get me wrong, I believe there should be time to play, but work should always come first. Give your children chores around the house and make them work before they can play.
Likewise, as an adult you should be a worker and not a player. If all you do is play, then you will find yourself getting into trouble more often than not. Stay busy working and you will keep yourself from doing wrong. The best repellant to sin is work. Sin doesn't like work; sin likes to play. So if you will stay busy working, then you will find it is much easier to stay away from sin.
The core of most trouble is playing and not working. If you are having trouble overcoming sin, then look at your schedule and see how much of it is filled with work. If you will tire yourself through work, then you won't have the energy to do wrong. We all have a sin nature inside of us, so the best way to keep that nature from controlling us is to work.