If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon, you might have had that certain itching feeling, the crazy urge to walk right up to the edge of the cliff. For those of us who aren’t afraid of heights, there is something extremely invigorating about walking up to the edge. It’s almost as if we get to look death right in the face and say, “Not today!” However, every time we do this, we are taking a risk. Tragically, or maybe foolishly, there have been 6,852 deaths at the Grand Canyon. While not all of these are from falling off the cliff, many are. In fact, Grapevine, TX insurance agent John Anderson recently fell off the edge of the Grand Canyon to his death.
Sometimes as Christians we get a similar itching feeling. We get an urge to walk up to the edge of the sin cliff, just to see how close we can get. Maybe we’re just curious. Maybe we are just foolish. No matter the reason, this is why so many fall into sin. Brethren, we shouldn’t be this way.
We need to be Christians who run away from the sin cliff (Genesis 39:6-12; 2 Timothy 2:22). We need to be Christians who are on the alert and who resist Satan (1 Peter 5:8; James 4:7). We need to be Christians who abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We need to be Christians who look for the way to escape the sin cliff (1 Corinthians 10:13).
It’s important for us to have a good healthy fear of sin. We need to be afraid to even come close to the sin cliff. What we need today are Christians who are afraid of heights!
So where are we standing? How close are we? Spiritually speaking, are we afraid of heights?
Brett Petrillo
via Findlay church of Christ
Sparta, TN