Putting Out Fires
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. – Hebrews 3:12-13 NKJV.
And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. – Jude 22-23 NKJV.
Does cotton burn? That was the question my cousin and I were wondering about. We were both five years old, and while our mothers picked cotton for a neighbor, we played in the cotton trailer. I knew where some matches were, and that day when we went to the field with our mothers, we planned to find the answer to our question.
Our mothers were halfway up the cotton row when I got the matches out and began to see if cotton would burn. Yes, cotton does burn, but you have to work at it. The trailer was almost full of cotton, and we were both working hard at our new game of burning cotton. Thankfully, someone drove by, saw the danger we were in and rescued us. The cotton and the trailer burned up. You know, I don’t remember my mother taking me with her to pick cotton again after our cotton burning experiment.
It has occurred to me that sin is much like the predicament I was in that day long ago in the cotton trailer. Sin looks like a lot of fun, and most of the time, nothing so bad happens in the beginning. Sin is a deceiver, just as the fire was that day in the cotton trailer. I worked so hard at starting something that could have painfully destroyed me. We work so hard at what we think is a good time and what we are really doing is working to destroy ourselves. I never realized the danger I was in while playing with fire. Most people involved in sin never realize the danger they are in until it is too late, and their lives have been ruined.
Maybe you have been playing with fire in your life. Jesus is the only One who can put the fire out. Jesus is the One who can save you and put meaning and purpose into your life. I’m thankful today for someone who many years ago saved my life by pulling me out of a burning cotton trailer. But I’m even more thankful to Jesus, who saved my soul from an eternal burning hell. I’m also thankful that He keeps the fires of sin put out in my life as I walk with Him each day. Jesus wants to do the same in your life.