“WATCHING FOR RIP TIDES”


           HOW VIVIDLY SOME OF US CAN REMEMBER NEGATIVE EVENTS IN OUR LIVES WHEREIN WE FAILED, AT LEAST  TO SOME DEGREE, TO TAKE NOTICE OF VERY VITAL WARNING SIGNS!! AS A RESULT, WE MAY HAVE PAID A GREAT PRICE FOR IT. THIS SAME LACK OF ATTENTION ALSO CAUSED PROBLEMS IN OTHER AREAS OF OUR LIVES, AND WHILE IT WAS NOTHING TUMULTUOUS, IT STILL CAUSED US PAIN! WOULD WE FOOLISHLY WALK NEAR A VICIOUS DOG WITHOUT MAKING A MENTAL NOTE OF THE FACT THAT THE ROPE SECURING HIM WAS FIVE FEET LONG INSTEAD OF TRUSTING A QUICK GLANCE AND FALSELY BELIEVING THAT THE LENGTH WAS TEN FEET? WHY SHOULD IT COST A PAIR OF SLACKS AND SOME PRECIOUS SKIN TO CONVINCE US TO LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT THINGS, SOME OF THEM CRITICAL IN NATURE? 

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM (PROVERBS}. WHILE MANY OF US DO REALIZE THAT ATTENTIVENESS MUST BE A LARGE PART OF OUR LIVES (ESPECIALLY CHRISTIANS), AND MANY TIMES STRIVE TO PRACTICE SUCH, WE STILL AT TIMES ARE COMPLETELY FOOLED! IT IS DURING SOME OF THESE TIMES THAT HARM, PERHAPS EVEN GREAT HARM, CAN COME UPON OUR PHYSICAL FAMILIES AND/OR CHURCH FAMILY! WE JUST DIDN’T SEE IT COMING, AND MAYBE IT DIDN’T REVEAL ITSELF AS EVEN THE “APPEARANCE  OF EVIL” FROM WHICH WE ARE TO “ABSTAIN” (1 THESSALONIANS 5: 22)!!

THERE IS WITHIN THE REALM OF GOD’S WONDROUS CREATION, SOMETHING CALLED OCEANS OR SEAS. SO MAGNIFICENT THEY TRULY ARE IN SO MANY WAYS! BUT ALONG EARTH’S BEAUTIFUL SHORES WITH SUCH BEAUTIFUL WAVES, THERE ALSO SOMETIMES EXISTS A DANGEROUS ELEMENT OF NATURE CALLED A “RIPTIDE” WHEREIN ABOUNDS VICIOUS, UNPREDICTABLE CURRENTS UNDERNEATH! SWIMMERS HAVE DROWNED IN SUCH, PERHAPS NEVER KNOWING IT WAS PRESENT. BUT TRUTHFULLY, SOME WERE PREWARNED, OR AT LEAST HAD AN IDEA, THAT THIS DANGER WAS PREVALENT AND STILL PAID DEARLY WITH THEIR LIVES! WE MUST TRY HARDER TO NOTICE THINGS DANGEROUS TO US, OUR HOMES, AND CHURCH FAMILY, THEN DEAL WITH THEM IN A GODLY MANNER!!

WHEN THERE EXISTS WITHIN OUR LIVES AND HOMES, SOMETHING THAT IS OR CAN BE HARMFUL TO US, WE MUST TAKE NOTE OF IT. IT MAY BE SOMETHING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH WHICH TO DEAL, AND WE UNWISELY “SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG”, AVOIDING IT! ALTHOUGH IT MAY, AT LEAST FOR NOW, BE ONLY AN “UNDER-CURRENT” OF SOME DANGER NOT YET NEAR “RIPTIDE” PROPORTIONS! HOW MANY CHRISTIAN HOMES HAVE MET WITH THE UPHEAVAL OF DIVORCE, SUICIDES, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, ETC., WHICH IN MANY CASES COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED BY EARLY DETECTION, AND EARLY ATTENTION GIVEN, MAKING SURE THAT OUR HOMES ARE CENTERED IN CHRIST, WITH ISSUES BEING BROUGHT TO THE FOREFRONT, AND DEALT WITH AS GOD WOULD HAVE IT FOR THE FAMILY (EPHESIANS 5: AND 6:1-4)! 

HOW MUCH DIFFERENTLY DO WE ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT THINGS IN GOD’S FAMILY WILL BE WITHOUT GODLY ATTENTIVENESS AND PROPERLY HANDLING OF SPIRITUAL MATTERS THEREIN? MANY TIMES A DESTRUCTIVE 
UNDER-CURRENT” CAN BE PRESENT WITHIN A CONGREGATION OF GOD’S PEOPLE, WITH DIVISIVE RIPPLES SURFACING FROM TIME TO TIME; NOTICED BUT NOT DISCUSSED, AT LEAST NOT UNTIL IT BEGINS TO CAUSE BIGGER ISSUES!!  SOMETIMES, EVEN THEN, WE FAIL TO DEAL WITH IT, AND THEN COMES THE “RIPTIDE”!! BRETHREN, THERE’S NOTHING AMISS AND NO ATTEMPT AT CAUSING DIVISION (1 CORINTHIANS 1: 10) WHEN WE TAKE NOTE OF POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS ISSUES, AND DISCUSS THEM IN LOVE, EDUCATING OURSELVES AND MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL PERHAPS AVOID DIVISION IN THE FUTURE!! “BE SOBER, BE VIGILANT”, BRETHREN, AS WE MAKE EVERY BIBLICAL ATTEMPT TO PREVENT OUR “ADVERSARY, THE DEVIL” (1 PETER 5: 8), FROM CAUSING A “RIPTIDE” WHICH IS BETTER PREVENTED THAN DEALT WITH!! 

WD #35 (8-31-14)

WAYNE DUREN