| “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Proverbs 4:14-15). |
| These verses remind me of a true story that took place in England more than 150 years ago, when people went from place to place either on trains, or in carriages drawn by horses. Wealthy people usually had a coachman who drove the horses for them, while they sat inside the carriage. On one occasion a wealthy man advertised for someone to take the job as his coachman, and several men applied. When he was interviewing them, he asked each of them the same question — “How close could you drive a carriage along the edge of a cliff without dropping a wheel over the side of the cliff?” The first one said that he could safely drive with the wheels one foot away from the cliff. The second one said that he could do better, for he claimed that he could drive within six inches of the cliff without dropping a wheel over it. But the third man replied, “When I am driving a carriage under those conditions, I stay as far away from the cliff as possible!” The third man got the job. The man who was hiring the coachman was not concerned with how close to the cliff he could drive the carriage, but rather with how safe the driver would be. |
| It is much the same in our Christian life. Some Christians like to see how close they can come to the world around us, and to the evil in it. They want to try and get as close as possible, yet not be involved in it. But just as the coachman who drives close to the cliff runs a real risk of dropping a wheel over it, so the Christian who gets as close as possible to the evil in this world runs a real risk of falling into sin. Our old sinful nature is strong, and the only way to keep it from acting in our lives is to recognize that it deserves death. If we think we can let it work to some extent, then it may well take over and lead us into sin. It is like lighting a small fire that we think we can control, only to find out that it soon gets beyond our control. Let us not try to get as close as possible to evil; rather let us follow the instruction in our verses today, and get as far as possible from evil. |
