I want to circle back around to the thoughts from two days ago …
… about wandering too close to that which is contrary to God’s Word;
… which then leads to “hanging out” in the company of that which is contrary to God’s Word;
… which ultimately leads to actively participating in that which is contrary to God’s Word.
The photo of the danger-area, from the blog post two days ago, was taken on Maui.
Today’s background photo was taken on the Big Island of Hawaii, in 2011.
Going to Hawaii had been a huge “bucket-list” dream for hubby and me for years. Finally … in 2011 we were able to go. On a bitterly-cold, icy January morning, hubby and I and the kids flew out for the warm and balmy shores of Hawaii!
Our very first day there, we took a stroll down a delightful path which meandered alongside the ocean. It was a beautiful day … the weather was amazing … we were having a wonderful time.
Along the way, we came to a place which looked like a nice spot to get in the water. This is today’s background photo. Being from the Pacific Northwest, the only beaches we have are rocky beaches … therefore this lovely spot looked no different than any PNW beach we were used to wading in.
We proceeded to wade into the shallow water, “oooh’ing” and “aaahhh’ing” over the various marine life we were discovering.
Suddenly we heard someone yelling at us: “Get out of there!!”
Startled, we looked around.
Up on the path, a man stood waving his arms at us and yelling: “Get out of there!!”
We were stunned … and shocked! Had we broken some unknown rule?? Had we horribly offended somebody?? Why was a random stranger yelling at us?? What had we done wrong???
After exiting the water and climbing back up onto the path, the man explained to us the dangers of wading in a rocky area such as the one we had just been in. Such areas are home to many sea urchins.
Sea urchins are covered all over with hundreds of sharp barbs/quills. Wading in such an area, we could have easily stepped on a sea urchin. Had the waves unsteadied us and knocked us off our feet, we might have fallen and landed on one, or perhaps in a fall we might have reached out our hand and placed our hand on one. We could have been badly injured!
As it turned out, the man was actually very nice.
And it was indeed very kind of him to stop and warn us.
But our immediate “blink” reaction had been that he was not nice at all. Our immediate “blink” reaction had been that he was unkind and mean.
There are times in our lives when God saves us from ourselves. This was one of those times. We did not know the dangers. We simply did not know.
So we come back around to the thoughts from two days ago …
… about wandering into spiritually dangerous areas;
… which then leads to “hanging out” in spiritually dangerous areas;
… which ultimately leads to actively participating in spiritually dangerous areas.
Psalm 1 says that this is what the wicked do when it comes to sin.
Sometimes people wander into spiritually dangerous places without even knowing it. Just like me and my family wandered into a dangerous place without even knowing it. There were no posted signs anywhere. We had never been to Hawaii before. We simply did not know of the dangers.
Some people simply don’t know the spiritual dangers of areas into which they have wandered.
Have you ever been walking along the “path of life” and noticed someone off to the side … in a spiritually dangerous place where, if they stay there, they will most certainly come to harm?
When this happens, the kind … and right thing to do is to warn them.
They need to be warned!
If you don’t warn them … who else will??
The man who warned me and my family came across as really harsh and mean: “Get out of there!!”
If you notice someone in a spiritually dangerous place, please oh please don’t yell at them: “Get out of there!!”
For sure warn them! But please do so with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)
“Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy …” – Jude 1:22-23
