Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
A couple of years ago, our Pastor did a series about the church being a rescue boat instead of a cruise ship. Most people come to church and choose a church with the “what can you offer me?” mentality. When in reality, God has called the church to “seek and to save that which is lost;” to be a hospital, if you will.
We think we want the cruise ship experience. However, a recent fire in an engine room on a cruise ship created a strong analogy about sin.
Most of the 4200 people, who boarded the Triumph on February 7th and left Galveston, Texas for a four-day trip to Mexico, were not thinking about what could go wrong. Most likely, they were thinking about how much fun they were going to have over the next four days. I am sure some of them had massages and other spa services planned. Some of them were going to get off the boat and do excursion trips at each destination. Some were just going to lie out on the boat’s deck and enjoy a drink or two. Some just “came for the food!” But, for whatever reason each one of them boarded that boat, it was for their pleasure.
I can only imagine the panic that must have ensued once the people were told of the fire. According to an Associated Press article, “Passengers described harsh conditions on board: overflowing toilets, long lines for food, foul odors and tent cities for sleeping on deck.” This was not the “pleasure” for which they paid! Not only the fear of whether the boat would sink or not, but the uncomfortable conditions did not make for the pleasure trip they had planned.
And, isn’t that the way of sin? We are usually tempted by sin’s beauty and the pleasure involved. We rarely consider, or even see, the costs involved. Satan is very good at hiding the negatives of sin. We want what we want and we want it now.
Robert Frost wrote so eloquently in his poem, The Road Not Taken, how the traveler took the road less traveled. What road are you taking? Are you taking the road that is less traveled or are you taking the road of pleasure? The pleasure may not always continue to be pleasure. There are always consequences to every choice we make.
The Road Not Taken
By: Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sign
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
