by Tom Wacaster
Two winters in Poltava, Ukraine taught me that I am not a cold weather person. While the wind and the ice may have been the norm to those who lived in and around Poltava, the weather proved to be a challenge on those few occasions when we braved the 20 below zero temperatures and the 80 below wind chill factors to attend to necessary chores and/or teaching opportunities. Icy sidewalks proved treacherous, and before that two month trip into the former Soviet Union was completed I would take two severe falls on the ice. Among other things I learned that slippery places abounded. There were no street crews going about clearing the ice. Few merchants threw salt on the sidewalk outside their shop. Consequently, we learned to watch our every step. But I also learned that even the most experienced would fall prey to the hazards of a cold, harsh winter in Poltava. Old men, young children, and middle aged alike would take their share of the falls. Citizen and foreign visitor alike were subject to the danger of those slippery places.
While I would not minimize the physical dangers that challenge us every day, there is a danger far greater than a fall on the ice, an occasional fender bender, or an accident at home or the work place. In the 73rd Psalm Asaph wrote these words: “Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped” (Psalms 73:1-2). The danger of which we speak is the very real prospect that we might drift from God (Heb. 2:1-4), and fall victim to a “heart of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12). The highway to eternity is littered with lost souls who once walked in the narrow way, but have long since abandoned their faith. Be it for whatever reason, spiritual treasures have been sold out for the pleasures of sin for a season. False teaching, unholy living, immorality, or materialism – it makes no difference what might be the cause, the end result is the same as that of Demas who “loved this present world” (2 Tim. 4:10).
Through the years I have watched precious souls encounter slippery places; some successfully, some not so successfully. The challenges of life have brought many a saint to wreck and ruin. But those same challenges have strengthened the will and determination of others who, like Asaph, “entered into the sanctuary of God” and considered the “latter end” (73:17). In every congregation with which I have labored I have witnessed weak Christians engage those slippery places. Much like watching a poor unbalanced soul slip on the ice, and feeling helpless to aid or assist, I have witnessed too many lukewarm and non-committal Christians lose their footing on one of those slippery places. A business opportunity that took precedence over a church activity; a ball game that seemed, at the moment, so very important; a rainy evening that kept the child of God away from the meeting of the saints; a desire for more money, more pleasure, or more indulgence in the things of the word. Slippery places come in all sizes, shapes and colors, but the danger is just as great.
It should be emphasized that the slippery place itself is only the danger. How you respond will determine the result. Will you, like Demas, forsake God and His Son? Or will you, like Asaph, be lifted up by God and restored to your first love? It has been said that a cork placed on the top of the water will float. If pressed down ten, fifty, or even a hundred feet, it will rise again. But once a cork is submerged below two hundred feet, it cannot rise again because the pressure of the water on the top counteracts its buoyancy. There is such a point of no return for the soul that has slipped into the mire of sin. Though rescue may have been possible early in his fall, he will eventually reach a point in his downward plunge into sin that recovery is no longer possible. Careful consideration should be given to the warnings in God’s word that speak of such a hopeless spiritual condition (Hebrews 6:1-6, 2 Peter 2:14, etc.). It is not that God CANNOT save, but that man WILL NOT repent. Like the cork that has sunk to unrecoverable depths, so is the soul that has gone so far away from God that he will not repent. To those precious souls who once traveled the road with us, we beg and plead that you come home before it is too late.