Road Kill

Proverbs 26:11 – As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. (NKJV)

One morning while driving to church, I noticed all along the edge of the highway bags of litter that volunteers had cleaned up the previous day. Sad to say, in the centre of the highway along the route were dead raccoons. They had obviously attempted to cross the road to get to what they thought were goodies. Unfortunately, they were struck by vehicles and ended up being road kill.

Immediately, I was reminded of believers, who after they come to the Lord and clean up their lives, get tempted by the old life. They look across the old road and see the "goodies" that they used to enjoy, pursue them again, and become spiritually shipwrecked.

This happened to two of my musician friends, who came out of the bar scene, got saved, started attending church, and began to live Christian lives. However the money and the accolades of fans began to entice them to return to the world stage again. It broke my heart to see them performing at a local festival. Eventually, they fell away from the Lord. They became "road kill". I somehow felt that I hadn't prayed enough for those guys.

Moses had trouble with his people who, when they ran into hard times, wanted to return to Egypt and all its delicacies:

Exodus 16:2-3 – Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (NKJV)

Jesus talked about the draw of the world on new believers like planted seeds:

Mark 4:18-19 – Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)

We need to heed the concern of even such a great Christian as Paul:

1 Corinthians 9:27 – But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (KJV)

Prayer: Father, stir us up to pray for and warn those new Christians who may be tempted to return to their old ways. Help us to be more effective mentors to new believers. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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