Dan Daase, Clearwater New Life Assembly
If you were around Highway 5 and Clearwater Valley Road last Wednesday, you would of noticed the heavy smoke and fire coming off a burning semi trailer.
The spectacular fire was apparently caused by brakes that had overheated. This fire got me thinking. One brake, of one of the 12 sets of tires, was dragging just enough to overheat, and get super hot, which ignited the tire, which destroyed the trailer and its contents.
I am absolutely not assigning blame to anyone, but it shows us that something fairly minor caused a major incident.
Solomon wrote in Song 2:15 “Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom.”Solomon was referring to foxes that were digging dens among the vine, which destroyed the roots of the plants, and so getting less yield from the vineyard. A fox is not a very big animal. Yet a little animal like this can do great damage to the vineyard.
I often hear people talking about certain “little things” that are not so bad. “Oh, it just a “little” white lie.” Or, “It's just a little adjustment on my tax return.” Or, “I was just “a little” over the speed limit.” Or, “It's just a 'little sore' on my leg, how bad can it be?” Remember too, it was a “little” spark that caused the major forest fire.The difficulty is, as we saw in that very visible incident on Highway 5, just a little problem can turn into a very big problem.
How many people have been caught in that “little white lie” and had to lie to cover that up, and then lie again to cover the last one up, and all of a sudden they are tripped up in their lies, just to use the example of lies.Little problems have the tendency to become big issues, if they are left undone. Those little foxes, the little problems, can ruin our lives.
In his Proverbs, Solomon also writes this: “Fools will die because they refuse to listen;they will be destroyed because they do not care.” Proverbs 1:32.
Complacency is a dangerous characteristic that sneaks into our lives and so is refusing to listen. When we start overlooking the “little issues” in our lives, thinking they are not so bad, we start walking down a dangerous road. This is the road of complacency. Complacency has destroyed many a life.Someone wrote: “Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are.
The second is rejection of things as they might be. "Good enough" becomes today's watchword and tomorrow's standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course – downhill. They draw false strength from looking back.”May we all be on guard against those “little things.”
Be on guard against becoming complacent. Jesus gives good advice to us all: “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak” Matthew 26:41.Indeed! Be on guard, watch out for yourself, and pray. Then you will not be fooled to believe that the “little things” cannot hurt you.