Wrong Way
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1
Roadside signs are something we take for granted, aren’t they? We expect them to be there. We see them. We read them. We use them. We move on. We assume they will be there. We assume they will give us the correct information. We don’t think about who manufactures them. We don’t consider who figures out where they go or who sticks them in the ground. We take for granted someone will make them, someone will figure out their location, someone will stick them in the ground, and we can depend on them to get us to our destinations – safely. How surprised I was one day to see a man holding a roadside sign in his hands at an angle as he worked to drive it into the ground. I drove right by him, then realized in my decades of driving I didn’t think I had ever seen someone actually stick a roadside sign into the ground. How could I take something so important for granted? Roadside signs don’t just drop down from heaven, do they? People work to get them where they need to go to help ensure our safety, don’t they? Imagine what our roads would be like if we didn’t have any signs, especially if we didn’t have the really important warning signs like the one this man held in his hands that needed to be driven into the ground so drivers could be sufficiently warned. WRONG WAY.
Why are we so vigilant about driving roadside signs into the ground for the safety and protection of people’s physical lives while we fall so short in having the desire, willingness, and courage as the Holy Spirit leads us to lovingly, humbly yet firmly place spiritual roadside signs in others’ lives to point them in the right direction of the Lord and His ways and warn them when they’re going the WRONG WAY when they’re mired in sin, turned away from God, and zooming down the highway to hell?
How many of us are failing to drive the WRONG WAY signs into the ground that would help save lives eternally? The Bible teaches when we see others held fiercely in the bondage of sin, we need to meekly restore them to God while being careful not to fall into the same temptations. Are we more concerned with our physical safety on the road than with where we will all spend eternity? Are some of us too afraid, ashamed, lazy, uncomfortable, busy, or proud to drive the WRONG WAY signs into the roadside to help others drive safely down Christ’s highway to heaven rather than the WRONG WAY without Him to hell forever apart from God? We have a responsibility to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to a perishing world and to help the world repent, believe in Christ, and grow in a relationship with God now and forever.
Are we doing this?