Skating on Thin Ice
The temperature the last few days has been frigid and, added to that, we have snow covering everything. It’s a beautiful sight to behold. Our house is located on a decorative pond with a fountain at one end. In spite of the sub zero temperatures, that fountain has continued to run and that end of the pond isn’t frozen solid. Our end looks like a beautiful ice skating rink, but it isn’t.
While working in our office, I noticed two young people leaning down over the side of the pond and hitting the ice with a hammer. Then I noticed that they were wearing, not ice skates, but roller blades. You see, I doubt that you can buy ice skates in our area because it just doesn’t get cold enough for lengthy periods to freeze ponds hard enough for skating.
As I had suspected, even after hammering a small hole in the ice and seeing the thickness of it, one of the kids stepped down on the ice in her rollerblades. I went to get Jim and have him go out and warn them that they couldn’t skate on that pond. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell them, but I thought that a man coming out and telling them might have more impact. They ran away as soon as he told them they couldn’t skate.
We could have ignored them and just watched to see what would happen, but even though we didn’t really know them, we cared about their safety. I doubt that they knew that was our motive. They probably thought he was just an older man who had forgotten how to have fun. (Little did they know that the last time it snowed, he was out on a sled with some of our grandchildren!)
As I thought about this incident, I began to think about times in our lives when we have known people–sometimes brothers and sisters in Christ–who were skating on thin ice. We tried to warn them about the danger they were getting close to which could damage their life or their family. Maybe it’s parents who are allowing their children to attend events which are not suitable for Christian young people. Maybe it’s allowing them to act and dress like the world. Maybe it’s a warning to a husband you can see drifting away from his wife and children, or a wife who isn’t respecting her husband as she should. It would always be easier to just sit back and see what happens. That way, we could still maintain a friendly relationship.
Sadly, when you try to help those getting as close to sin as they can, it is often not accepted as a loving action. “I don’t need you to tell me what to do!” “I know my children better than you do and they know what is right and what is wrong!” “My child (or husband or wife) would never do such a thing!” This list of responses could go on and on, when all you really wanted was to save them from heartache and loss. Isn’t that part of what Christianity is about? Shouldn’t we be helping one another in our lives here on earth and helping each other get to heaven? Isn’t that the life that Jesus lived while He was on this earth?
Those young people who were getting ready to “skate” on the pond are safe today because we took action to warn them of the danger of skating on that pond. Who will you help see the dangers that surround them? More importantly, who do you know that is skating on thin ice spiritually? Won’t you warn them?
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1)
AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
