讓我們多花一點時間來探討一個現實的情況，就是現今很多基督徒都好像「以法蓮人」一樣，善於步操，卻拙於作戰。他們帶著自己的問題呼求幫助，但在面對聖經的要求時（其中一個要求是向自我死），他們害怕得好像老鼠一樣，急忙跑進第一個找到的地洞裡去。他們想得到快速的醫治，卻不願意接受關於如何從自我中心悔改過來的建議。

我有時不禁在想，教會今天的現象，是否因為我們處於一個以逃避來面對生活的時代？美國作家斯克拉（Anna Sklar）在《出走的妻子》（Runaway Wives）這本書中透露了美國一個驚人的統計數字。她說十年前，每當有一位妻子離家出走、逃避家庭責任的時候，就會有六百個丈夫和父親做出一樣的行為；但是今天，每當有一個男人這樣做的時候，就有兩個女人在做同樣的事情。

我提出這句話並不是要支持任何一方，只是想指出現代的趨勢是越來越傾向於選擇逃避來作為處理問題的方法。以前被社會視為恥辱的事情，現在的人毫不猶疑地接受；「放棄吧」這句話隨時衝口而出。每當婚姻亮起紅燈，出現危機的時候，解決的方法大多是：「我們離婚吧！」我不知道今天世俗的潮流對我們的思想有多大影響？我們在多大程度上容許世界將我們擠進它的框架裡去呢？

We must spend some more time focusing on the fact that many of today's Christians are like the Ephraimites we spoke of a few days ago - good at parading, but not so good in battle. They cry out for help with their problems, but when confronted with the demands of Scripture, one of which is to die to self, they scurry like rats down the first bolthole they can find. They want a medicine man with a quick cure, not direct advice about how to repent of their egocentricity.

I sometimes wonder to myself whether this trend in today's Church is the result of our being brain-washed by an age that tends to make quitting a way of life. Anna Sklar, in her book Runaway Wives, uncovered an incredible statistic of American life when she said that a decade ago, for every woman who walked away from her home and family responsibility, 600 husbands and fathers did so. Today, for each man who does that, two women do.

My purpose in making this statement is not to take sides with either group, but simply to point out that, more and more, the modern trend is to choose the way of escape as the method of dealing with problems. Things that were once viewed by society as a stigma are now accepted without the flicker of an eyelid. "Let's just quit" are almost household words. A marriage gets shaky, hits a few rough patches and the solution is: "Let's get a divorce. How much of today's worldly patterns are affecting our thinking. I wonder? And how much are we letting the world squeeze us into its own mould?