The superintendent took the first applicant to a sharp curve on a steep grade along the road and asked, “How close can you drive the bus to the edge of the road on the curve without going over the cliff with the children?” The applicant looked and replied, “I believe I can go to within a foot and still be safe.”
The second applicant was asked the same question, he checked the curve, and told the superintendent, “I believe that I can drive within six inches of the edge and not go over the cliff.”
The third applicant was asked the same question, but the superintendent received an entirely different answer from him than the other two. He responded to the question by saying, “Do you think I’m crazy? I’m not interested in seeing how close I can get to the edge with the bus. I’d be trying to see how far I could keep away from the edge of the road with the bus.” The applicant got the job.
There’s a spiritual lesson for us in the above story. Too many professed Christians are like the first two applicants in the above story. They think in terms of how “close” they can come to the edge of the road on the curve [to sin] without going over the cliff [without sinning]. Instead of looking into God’s word, seeing how far they can “stay away” from sin (1 Thessalonians 5:22), they engage in questionable practices, such as social drinking, gambling, or in the way they dress.
Beloved, Paul tells us that we are not to allow the world around us to "squeeze us into its own mold" (Romans 12:2 J.B. Phillips), but to allow God to remake us so that our attitude of mind is changed.
The Hebrew writer tells us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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