We just returned from a 10-day trip, which included a visit with
Dan’s brother and sister-in-law in South Carolina, and then to North Carolina to
see our daughter, Erica. It was a great
time of fellowship, laughter and good food, which is always a great
combination.
I have to admit that when we go on vacation, I really like to be
able to just sort of “zone out” and not have to do a lot of thinking (not that
I really do a lot of thinking when I’m home either!). Sometimes though, that gets me into trouble
much to the chagrin of whoever is with me.
Unfortunately, this trip didn’t disappoint.
We got up one of the mornings at Erica’s and it looked like it
was going to be a beautiful day. The sun
was shining and my phone showed it was the perfect morning temperature so I was
anxious to step outside. Now, this
wouldn’t have been a problem if I would have been using my brain, but because I
was on “zone out” mode it soon became obvious that we did have a big problem.
You see, there is an alarm on Erica’s front door that has to be
turned off as soon as she enters. I knew
that. What I failed to remember was that
if the alarm is set when you are inside, it has to be disarmed before you exit. Yes, you guessed it. In my haste to walk outside, I just grabbed
the doorknob and opened the door. I am
fully confident that what followed probably raised the dead in the
neighborhood. The most awful, shrill,
ear-piercing sound filled the air and since I had no idea how to turn it off, I
just stood there with my mouth open.
Fortunately, Erica was home and she came running to my rescue and
disarmed the alarm.
There was no denying my error.
I couldn’t act like I hadn’t been the one to open the door and I surely
couldn’t pretend that I had turned the alarm system off before I turned the
knob. The horrific sound that permeated
every part of our being convicted me of my error.
As you can imagine, this incident woke my brain up rather
quickly and I began wondering what life would be like if every time I sinned,
an alarm went off for everyone to hear.
What if every time I gossiped…every time didn’t tell the truth…every
time I did anything that was against God’s Word an ear piercing alarm went
off? Would I be more conscious of my
actions? Would I be more intentional to
follow His laws? Would it keep me on the
straight and narrow or, over time, could I even become accustomed to this
terrible sound that I zone out and fall back to my evil ways totally
disregarding the noise?
Of course we all know that an alarm doesn’t go off to signal
those around us that we have sinned. We
can be living in sin, day in and day out, and no one else may ever know. At the beginning, we may hear the Holy Spirit
in our ear, letting us know that what we are doing isn’t pleasing to God. But over time, we can often become so
accustomed to His promptings that we just disregard His words and continue in
our sin.
Tomorrow we are going to celebrate the freedom that we have in
our country. Living in the United
States, we are still able to worship and serve the one true God and we should
never take it for granted. We need to
take the opportunities that we have to let others know what our God means to us
and why we want to serve Him. But I
happen to believe that our words will have a greater impact if each of us is
living in a way that is pleasing to God.
If we are actively sinning, I don’t think we will be an effective witness,
even if those with whom we share never know of our secrets.
When we are tempted to sin this week, let’s stop for a moment
and pretend that an alarm will go off
if we succumb and give in. Who
knows…maybe this pause in our day will give us the courage to tell Satan to
take a hike. The more we do that, the
stronger we will become with our God at the helm of our lives. Then maybe…just maybe…our times of
“zoning-out” will be greatly diminished!
“It is
the Lord your God you must follow,
and him you must
revere.
Keep his commands and obey him;
serve him and hold fast to
him.”
Deuteronomy 13:4
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