Be A Warning Sign

by | Jan 15, 2015 | Perspective | 4 comments

I’m sure you heard about the massive, 193-car pile-up that happened in Michigan a few days ago due to snow and low visibility. One graphic video, documenting two heart-wrenching minutes of collision after collision leaves one breathing and thinking hard. Even if you’ve seen it, Pile-Up on Michigan Highway I-94 makes me ponder: to what destruction is the race of mankind hurtling toward? Even if you’ve seen it, it’s worth watching again with this correlation in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9fI5M6_XVk

How could car after car, truck after truck—each one barreling full-speed into the mass of smoking wreckage ahead of them—not see what was coming? Blinded by the blizzard and driving unwittingly forward, they had not the slightest clue what would shortly and surely engulf them. Has not the god of this world “blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them”? But oh, how grateful I am that God has commanded the light to shine out of darkness! He has made a way of escape to all who will surrender and call upon His name.

But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

3628_Salem-West Virginia-USA_Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17 mm, 1-60 sec at f - 8.0, ISO 400

Even here in quiet, rural West Virginia we are reminded every so often that we do not know what lies ahead of us. Even as Christians, there are temptations and ways that positively—intellectually speaking—seem right unto us. And yet we know in our spirit, indwelt by the Spirit, warns us of impending danger through different means, whether it be a verse of Scripture, a still small voice, or the example of a fellow believer. Whether the danger ahead is evident or not, we must take heed to the warning signs that God has placed around us.3607_Salem-West Virginia-USA_Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 25 mm, 1-100 sec at f - 8.0, ISO 400

And, in heeding those warning signs, let us be warning signs to others. Be the light to the world! Be that city set on a hill! Be that example of the believers in word, conduct, genuine love, spirit, faith and purity. Raise the standard of Christ-like living! You may be the only—or perhaps the last?—warning sign that someone, Christian or not, will see before rushing headlong into eternity, the end of all opportunity for free will. Speak out for what you believe. Deliver yourself from the judgment on the watchman of Ezekiel 33 to whom God said, “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

3588_Salem-West Virginia-USA_Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 40 mm, 1-80 sec at f - 8.0, ISO 400

In heeding the warnings from others and pulling the beams out of our own eyes, may God grant us the wisdom, compassion and understanding to see clearly how to point others’ to Christ. For we should know that “he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

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4 Comments

  1. Megan Hutchinson

    Thanks for the great reminder,James. I needed the encouragement!

    Reply
  2. Megan Hutchinson

    That was such a sad,sad video! I’d have to say,however,that were I there I don’t think I’d be standing there taking a video,but helping others exit their vehicles immediately! I don’t think I could bear to watch all that!!!

    Reply
  3. James Staddon

    I know exactly what you mean! I don’t think I would have even pulled out my camera to take pictures. That’s one thing that causes me to wonder if I could be a photojournalist . . .

    Reply
  4. Donald S.

    What a vivid illustration!
    It made me think of chalk art as well as the many object lessons in the book of Ezekiel — he used everything from lion cubs and eagles to simple history lessons and references to the law.
    The Lord still has creative ways of painting vivid warning signs and He’s using you and your camera.
    Thanks brother!

    Reply

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