Senior Living

Early 18th Century English poet Alexander Pope never made it to his senior years.

He died at the age of 56.

In very poor health all of his life, he is an example of wisdom not coming with age, but with adversity.

Even though you may have never heard of Alexander Pope, you have probably heard a few of his quotes: “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”

But my favorite Pope quote is a little poem I learned when I was 20 years old: “Sin is a monster of such awful mein that to be hated needs but to be seen. But seen to oft familiar of face we first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

How true and insightful.

In 1964 Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart unintentionally coined the phrase “I know it when I see it.” The case sought to define what constituted hardcore pornography.

The first time someone sees pornography they have no doubt what it is, and their conscience immediately tells them it’s a monster. Yet, by enduring, revisiting, and justifying, that monster can soon be embraced.

The same pattern happens with drugs or alcohol. That is the nature of how sin works in human nature.

The wages of sin is always more sin and eventually death. The illicit, the forbidden, the seductive enticements of this world are reaching out to entangle us with monstrous tentacles.

But do not let your heart be deceived. Hold up your shield of faith, and strike that monster with the sword of the Word of God.

I appreciate the one who passed this little poem on to me when I was young. I am passing it on to you in hopes that you will share it.

Next Week: Halloween: take it or leave it?

Dan Williams is the senior adult pastor at Lexington Baptist Church.