The Power Of Prevention

A great cholera epidemic sweep through London in the 19th century. John Snow

observed that those who pumped water from the Broad Street pump tended to get

cholera, but those who took their water from other pumps did not get it. He knew

nothing about germs, bacteria, and polluted water, but he removed the handle from the

Broad Street pump, and because he did many did not die. He used the logic of

prevention. If you stop people from doing what leads to cholera, you will stop cholera,

and it worked.

Prevention is one of the great powers of life. Some things cannot be cured, so they

have to be prevented. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Humpty

together again. He couldn't be cured, but with a little forethought they could have

prevented him from falling in the first place. Just a little sign saying no eggheads on the

wall could have done it. You cannot cure murder or suicide, but you can prevent them.

You cannot make any sin you commit not to be. You can forgive it and even forget it,

but the fact is it will leave some scar or blot on life that cannot be eliminated.

That is why prevention is even superior to forgiveness. The Proverb that says, an ounce

of prevention is worth a pound of cure is not in the Bible, but it is as biblical as any Proverb

you can utter, for it is one of the primary themes of the Sermon on the Mount. If this greatest

sermon of all time were titled it could very well be called, The Power Of Preventative Thinking.

Some examples we see are-

1. Christians are to be the salt and light of the world to prevent the world from decaying

and being dominated by the forces of darkness.

2. Christians are to prevent violence, murder, and breakdowns in human relationships

by learning to deal wisely with anger.

3. Christians are to prevent all of the sorrows of immorality by learning how to deal with

lust.

4. Jesus goes on and on trying to help the believer prevent divorce, revenge, hypocrisy,

greed, worry, judging, and folly in general.

Prevention is where its at in living the effective Christian life. That is why Christians

are strong supporters of the prevention movements of even the secular society of our

day. Christians are a strong force in the health movement. Good food, good exercise,

good rest, and balanced living all prevent unnecessary suffering, and Christians are all

for it, and rightly so, for it fits God's ideal for wise living. Christians are all for crime

prevention, fire prevention, disease prevention, or the prevention of any form of evil.

To prevent a war is far superior to the winning of one. That is why Jesus is primarily

concerned with Christians learning to practice preventative thinking and action. The

foolish man who built his house on the sand may have built a solid and lovely a home as

the wise man. His folly was due to the fact that he did not think ahead to the

consequences of the rainy season, and the result is he did not prevent his home from

being destroyed. The wise man did prevent this foolish loss by his choice of foundations.

The difference between the fool and the wise man is in preventative thinking. Almost

every foolish and sinful thing we do that robs us of God's best could have been prevented

by obedience to the principles Jesus lays down for us in this marvelous sermon.

Jesus is teaching us to be realistic about sin and the weakness of our human nature.

You do not wait until your anger is ready to explode and then try to deal with it. You

don't wait until lust is at a fever pitch to grapple with it. You think ahead, and you know

when the first signs of irritability or temptation arise in you. That is the time to act and

gain control of your inner nature before sin gets strong enough to take over.

David brought down the giant Goliath, and that was great, but Jesus says there is a

better way, and that is to never let the giant grow up. Defeat your sins while they are

scrawny weaklings just beginning to develop. Prevent them from ever getting to be giant

forces in your life. In other words, get them before they get you. This is done by

exercising the power of preventative thinking. It involves being honest about your sinful

nature. It is not wise but foolish to hide from yourself, and pretend you are not tempted

to do evil. Wise is the Christian who says, if I get into such and such a situation I am

likely to fall.