The Slippery Slope

When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. John 15:10

In my twenty-plus years in ministry, I have seen the slippery slope in many a woman’s life. She didn’t “mean” to have an affair. She didn’t think a few glasses of wine would lead her to alcoholism. She didn’t think working those few extra minutes would turn into a few extra hours that would turn into her feeling alienated from her husband and children and make her a virtual stranger in her own home. She didn’t think buying that purse, that outfit, that makeup was any big deal. She rationalized, I work hard, I earned it! Then she found herself with more month than money at the end of the month and headed straight for bankruptcy.

It starts so subtly. A rationalization. An “I can handle it” attitude. I’ll just date the unbeliever once. It’s just for coffee. Then it turns into Maybe if I go out for dinner, I can talk to him about God. Then the date turns into a second date, and there is less and less God talk—in fact, less talk at all. Your heart gets hooked, and you start picking and choosing what verses you read in the Bible, definitely avoiding the “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers” sections. Kissing turns into more than kissing, and as time passes, you think, I am the only one that can reach him. If I don’t stay in his life, he will be lonely and forever lost. You try to replace Jesus as the Savior, and you take on that role, thinking that your love for this man will be his saving grace. You begin to feel that you can’t live without him—yet you are now essentially living without Christ. Christ may be “in” your life, but you have tried to guide his hands and do the work that only the Holy Spirit can do.

Are you rationalizing? Are you telling yourself, I can handle it. It won’t affect me! Is there a still, small voice whispering to you today? Obey it.