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June 28, 2014 marked the 100-year anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Their deaths led directly to World War I, which would begin exactly one month later on July 28.
The Archduke and his wife were shot as they rode in an open-air motorcade through the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Of historical interest is the fact that an attempt on their lives had already been made earlier in the day. A man had thrown a bomb at their car, but missed!
The Chicago Tribune reported that following the explosion the duchess tried to dissuade her husband from continuing the parade and planned ceremonies. To this (in order to remove her fear), the governor of Bosnia said, “It is all over now. We have not more than one murderer in Sarajevo.” Upon hearing this, the motorcade continued. The rest, as they say, is history.
This reminds me of the way we often ignore certain warning signs and talk ourselves into making foolish decisions.
We have been with certain people and/or crowds and have put ourselves in the same positions with all the same temptations, but we say, “There is not one more temptation here.”
The father of lies loves it when we tell ourselves that there is not one more.
“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today, ‘that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).
Bart Warren
S. Green St. Church of Christ
Glasgow, KY