What Ice And Sin Have In Common

The weather this past week sure has produced some slippery back roads. What once was snow melted to become a layer of ice. Now, they are once again covered with snow. That made driving the vans on Wednesday night a challenging task. What looked like a reasonable place to stop often proved to be a very slippery surface. It’s a sad state of affairs when you think you might get stuck in the middle of the road. But then, that comes part and parcel with Michigan winters.

No one likes driving on ice. We all know that it is dangerous. In just a moment, we can go from relative safety to potential or actual injury. If we are smart, we take ice seriously.

However, there is something more slippery and dangerous than ice. Unfortunately, it is something that people often take less seriously than icy roads and surfaces. That something is sin. So often, it lies just under the surface—covered up by a nice front so that people don’t see it. Yet, it is there, and it corrupts everything. Sin never only effects the one committing the sin. It gets in the way of our relationship with God and with others. It keeps us from living to our full, God-intended potential.

...And sin is slippery. A path that seemed relatively safe quickly leads to more dangerous territory. Pretty soon, we are sliding out of control—to a place we didn’t intend to go. Sin traps people. Yet, we often fail to take it seriously. God takes it seriously, and warned us of the danger:

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)

Praise God, He offered us hope in Jesus Christ:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

What a gift!

In His grip,
Pastor Decker