Going Up or Going Down?
Where no counsel is, the people fall. – Proverbs 11:14
Several years ago, another man and I were doing some custodial work in an office building. My co-worker told me that
he had learned a “new way” to operate the elevator to the second and third floors. It sounded good, so he showed me the small screwdriver that was
kept in a standing ashbin and was used to open the elevator door. Using the screw driver was faster because the doors opened almost immediately, and
the new method worked fine for several weeks.
One night, my partner started up the stairs, and I told him I would bring the elevator. Following the procedure that I was taught, I opened the elevator
door, but instead of stepping into the elevator car, I stepped into the shaft! Someone had already taken the elevator to the second floor, and I found
myself dropping into a hole as deep as my six-feet-six-inches height. To this day, I do not know how I managed to retrieve myself from that hole. The
“new way” to operate the elevator had circumvented the standard safety procedure that would have prevented the doors from opening before the car arrived
to my floor. By the mercy of God, I escaped without serious injury or the loss of my life.
With some reluctance I share this embarrassing story, because I believe there is a moral to it. God’s Word is a guide to us that tells us how to live so
that we will one day arrive safely in Heaven. Some people will try to tell us they have found an easier way to get there than by following every teaching
of the Bible, but we must be ever so careful when it comes to God’s Word. We know that all of Scripture is profitable to us (see 2 Timothy 3:16). If
we leave out any part, we will eventually discover the reason God included it—to help us make Heaven.
Those who cast aside God’s counsel and follow their own standards for life will eventually go down to ruin, but those who take heed of His counsel will
gain a crown of life. I learned the hard way about the dangers of taking shortcuts, but we can learn the easy way spiritually by heeding God’s instructions
today.