playing too close to the road

Hubby and I did a devotional this morning about 'playing too close to the road'. What is meant by this is seeing how close you can get to sin without actually falling in. We both realized that we are all guilty of this at times.

Hubby used to be a mechanic - and before you judge, he was one of the 'good ones'. However, the door was always open to scam the customers - and it was even encouraged at times as it brings in money for the dealership in the end. He talked about how he could complete a job in 1/2 hour but could charge 2 hours for it. Add to that the fact that he could give a customer a whole laundry list of items that should be repaired but didn't absolutely NEED to be done. Now that he has left that area of the auto industry, he can look back and realize just how close he got.

Sure there are times when we both think that the money he made as a mechanic would be really great - he could make about double what he is making now - but we know that just knowing you are not scamming people is well worth the cut in pay.

As for me, I come dangerously close every time I go to work. This February, I will be celebrating 5 years (YAHOO!!) of sobriety. And yet every time I enter my job (a bar) I am an arms length from falling back in. Funny though, I have never considered drinking on the job. It is kind of like God has blinded me to the fact that there are open bottles of liquor all over the place, and I just set about to do what I am paid to do, which is clean up after other people's evenings of drunkenness.

I have often heard the advice "garbage in, garbage out". I think of this when I turn on the computer or the television, or watch a movie. Every mode of media is a direct line to the sin that is so easily accepted in our world. And no matter how much you think you are immune, exposing yourself to it daily will numb you to its dangers sooner or later. And just as easily, you will partake, with the opinion that 'everyone else is doing it'. Then comes the fall.

The struggle is finding the balance. I mean, when I think of all the ways we could so easily fall into sin, it makes me want to pack up the family and move to some mud hut somewhere and call it a day. But avoiding the world is no answer either. We need to live IN the world without becoming LIKE the world. We need to get out of the house, but not run into the road.

So let today be a challenge - to be aware of the road, with all its speeding cars and semis, and see where the sin lies. Ask yourself what roads you are playing on. And then determine to head back to the lawn...not the mud hut.

God Bless!