HOOSIER FATHER?
Indiana is the state I grew up in, Indiana is known as
the “Hoosier State.” It seems that this “nickname” came early in
its history, it caught on from the question, “WHO’S YOUR FATHER?”
The Apostle Paul asks a similar
question in Romans 6:16-17, “Do you not
know that to whom you present your-selves slaves to obey, you are that one’s
slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading
to righteousness.” In other words, if your actions are unrighteous it is
obvious that you are unrighteous, but, on the other hand, if your walk is
righteous you are righteous.
Jesus addressing the same thought
put it this way, Matthew 7:17-20, “7 Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”KJV
The small town of Kuna, Idaho, has a
unique charact-eristic, there is an underground tube of lava located near
it. The only entrance to it is a dark
shaft that plunges straight down into the darkness. One man’s experience with this phenomena
caused him to exclaim, “As I stood at the
edge of that shaft and looked down I was drawn to venture closer and almost
lost my balance. I felt a moment of
heart-pounding terror and stepped away from the opening.”
Flirting with sin is like that: How
often have men or women gotten too close to the edge, lost their balance, and
fallen into the darkness? We think we
can flirt with tempta-tion, get very close to the edge, and walk away, but
that’s a fool’s dream. We know an action
is wrong and yet we toyh with it. Then,
inescapably, we are drawn into deeper and darker perversions.
Jesus put it this way: John 8:34,
“Whoever commits sin
is a slave of sin.”
