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Do you recall the scene from The Sound of Music when the children are going off to bed and saying goodbye while singing, “So long, farewell, Auf Weidersehen, goodbye?”

Now that this song is stuck in your head and you’ll be singing it all day let’s allow this song to give us a needed lesson in life, shall we.

What if we stopped playing with sin. What if we stopped associating with people, places, things, ideas, as well as, items other than nouns which bring us down. Imagine life if we said, “So long, farewell, Aug Wiedersehen, adieu. Adieu, adieu to you and you and you,” to those things which anger us, sadden us, cause us to stumble and fall into sins we strive to remove.

Paul informs the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 10:13 how, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

No matter what area of life you are test/tempted/tried, God always provides a way out. You see, the reason we falter is because we stay and play instead of fleeing and healing.

James 4:7 tells us to, “Submit yourself, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Say what? Resist the devil and he will flee from me?! Yep. That’s a promise. Now, this doesn’t mean he won’t come back. Even after tempting Jesus in the dessert for 40 days we see how in Luke 4:13 that, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him (Jesus) until an opportune time.”

Well great. If the devil is just going to keep coming back what should we do?

We keep resisting. We keep fighting. We keep growing, worshiping, learning, and striving to be the good needed. We keep loving and leading others to God knowing they also help our walk as well. So when it comes to sin and those struggles, sing to them, “So long, farewell, Aug Wiedersehem, goodbye.”

Or go old school and tell that devil, “See you later, alligator. Gotta run, skeleton. After a while, crocodile. Adios, hippos. Gotta go, buffalo. Out the door, dinosaur. Got to truck, baby duck. Chop, chop, lollipop. Adieu, cockatoo. Bye, Bye, Butterfly. Hit the trail, tiny snail. Better shake, rattlesnake. Can’t stay, blue jay. Take care, polar bear. Gotta scat, kitty cat. In the morn, unicorn. Better swish, jellyfish. Toodleloo, kangaroo. Give a hug, ladybug.”

In other words, stop playing and start living as God desires. #bethegoodneeded

 

Rev. J. Cameron Bailey is pastor of Kenbridge Christian Church. He can be reached at jamescameronbailey@gmail.com.