When You Don’t Start a Problem, It Won’t Spread
Maybe the most often-quoted Chinese proverb is, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Nearly every time I have heard that proverb used, it has been in an encouraging way, but have we ever stopped to consider that the same statement is true in a negative sense, as well. If we ever start down a sinful path, we could find ourselves lost and without hope in some addiction or massive life upheaval due to that sin.
In the mid-1400s, the nation of Portugal was sending out explorers to nearby islands to try to find land to take over and resources to use. One island was named Porto Santo and, due to his influence, the entire island was given to an explorer named Bartolomeu Perrestrello. How great would that be, to have an entire island to yourself! The explorer took his family to the island, with the plans of basically making it their home. However, he allowed his two children to bring their pets along and leave them there while the family went back home to prepare to move.
Oh, did I mention that their pets were rabbits?
With no predators on the tiny island, and no people to watch their activities, by the time the family came back to settle, the island had been reduced to a wasteland, some even say a desert.
Is that not how our ways usually go? We get all gung-ho about something that seems all amazing, but we do not think things through, and we end up in a wasteland. How many people have ended up in a true addiction or with their lives totally devastated because they rushed into something that looked great from the outside, but did not really consider that that first step was one that was in the wrong direction?
Our lives should not be about seeing how many false steps we can make, or how far down a path we can go before we get burned. Instead, our lives are to be lived in holiness, seeking to take every possible step toward God.
After all, just like rabbits, things can get out of hand and turn our lives into a wasteland very quickly.
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
