How Close will You Dare to Get?
© 2022 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)
One day, my best friend and I were walking home from elementary school. I started playing a little game with him. Dropping behind him, I began tossing stones over his head to see if I could scare him. I didn’t plan to hit him. I only wanted to see how close I could get without doing so. As I continued, my stones got closer and closer to his head. Guess what happened!? Yup! one of my stones finally hit him in the head. That ended that game! He was really upset with me and ran home. My house was a little farther away than his, so when I got home, his Mom had already called my Mom on the phone. I think I got spanked. Thankfully, he wasn’t seriously injured and, after a few days of avoiding each other, we resumed being friends.
Moral: The only way to see how close you can throw stones at a friend, without hitting him, is to finally hit him!
Years later, when well into our teens, we spent an afternoon together at a Christian camp where he was on staff. During his free time we rented a camp sailfish and took it out on the lake. My friend decided to see how far we could make it lean without capsizing. We tacked close into the wind as the sailfish leaned hard to one side. Guess what happened!? That’s right! It tipped so far it finally capsized. We both got dunked!
Moral: The only way you can find out how far you can tip a sailfish without capsizing it, is to finally capsize it!
These incidents illustrate a spiritual principle. Sometimes we’re tempted to become too involved with those who will lead us astray. We end up seeing how closely we can align ourselves with those addicted to evil while still avoiding their wickedness. Such behavior invites serious disaster. God warns us to avoid tempting ourselves with wickedness in this manner.
“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. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:14-19)
Christian: While trying to win unsaved people to Christ (and we should) be careful not to participate in the wickedness to which they’re enslaved.
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