You have heard it from me before- I really dislike heights!!! So, with that in mind, I could never imagine myself on that wire; even with that life-line!!!! But, in a way we all walk a tight-wire, because we all live in this world. The worst of among us at least do what they can to keep out of jail. Some of us try to be "Good persons", while others do the best we can to be genuine disciples of Jesus Christ. It is to this last classification of people that I refer to today and also to the two passages of Scripture from the book of 1st John...
1 John 1:5-7 NASB
(5) This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
(6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
(7) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(5) This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
(6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
(7) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 2:15-17 NASB
(15) Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
(17) The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
(15) Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
(17) The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? How exactly do we do that in a world that is so full of evil? Well, the answer seems to be that, to quote Larry Shatzer... "We do the best we can, with what we have, where we are now". Now, that may not be an exact quote, but it at least gets the idea across. What we can NOT DO is to walk (that is to make a lifestyle of..) in sin. And we overcome our tendencies to sin by God's help. In a way, we walk daily with a life-line (and his name is Jesus). He intercedes for us and helps us to gradually walk more and more in light and NOT DARKNESS!!! This formally begins with our conversion and continues afterward - because we LOVE GOD and wish to please HIM and NOT ourselves!!! Today, take a few minutes for a little introspection- ask yourself... Am I doing anything that I really should not be doing as a Christian? And if the answer should be a "yes"; then change. Remember, you have a life-line in case you should fall!!!!