BBD 07.30.09 Out of Control
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
(A Devotional Classic from 2002)
Welcome to the 811 new subscribers since January 1, 2009
07.30.09
Out of Control
And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish,
he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he
reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix
was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I
will call for you.' - Acts 24:24-25.
In Darwin, Australia the pilot of small plane (a Cessna 182) was trying to
start the plane by cranking the propeller by hand. The plane's engine
started and began to move before the pilot could get back aboard it. The
pilot wasn't aboard but his three children were. John Hardy owner of Hardy
Aviation said, "He (the pilot) wasn't in the airplane but his three children
were, which is pretty frightening, and the aircraft engine sprang into life
and developed enough power to tear off down the taxiway. I think one wheel
was off the ground, and it was accelerating very quickly." The plane came to
a stop after crashing into three small planes that were parked. The children
were unhurt but frightened by their wild ride.
Felix was a Roman governor and powerful official. He held Paul in prison and
talked with him often over the course of two years hoping that Paul or his
friends would give him money for Paul's release. A Roman historian, Tacitus,
said that Felix, "maintained the royal law with a servile disposition by
means of all sorts of cruelty and greed." There is no record of Felix ever
coming to that "more convenient time" when he would have received Christ as
his Savior. The downward spiral of sin in the life of Felix was out of
control, and it took him further than he wanted to go. Felix found life had
taken him past heaven and all the way to hell.
During the downward spiral of sin, we will find that we are not in control
of our life and that the farther we go the faster we go. Sin always takes us
farther than we want to go because sin takes control. How many people have
thought that they could use cocaine without becoming addicted, or that they
could drink without becoming an alcoholic but discovered too late that their
little sin had taken control. How many people are in prison because they
planned to be in prison? Very few! They are there because sin on a wild
frightening ride took them farther than they wanted to go.
Do you have some "little sin" in your life? Please don't wait until some
"more convenient time" to turn away from it because that time may never
come. When will you come to the point of no return? When will your life be
out of control and sin will be in the driver's seat? Felix never knew when
that point came just as countless others have missed it as well.
If you have a "little sin" in your life turn around before it destroys you.
If you turn around now you might miss the frightening downward plunge to
destruction. Don't let sin take you farther than you want to go!
Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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