Caution

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews4:12NIV

When that word ‘Caution’ is posted on a sign, and placed at any location, we ignore it at peril of our lives. There is always good reason for the sign being there because danger is close by and we don’t want to become a statistic. Sadly, it can become like an attraction to the few who want to see and know what all the fuss is about, so they throw caution to the winds (literally) and barge in unprotected and vulnerable.

Sometimes I think it would be a good thing to have a ‘Caution - Read at Your Own Risk’ sticker placed on every Bible in the land because then we might take more notice of the personal dangers within its pages. Sure, the Bible is a story of God’s love, and our redemption story runs through it like a gold thread, but the Scriptures also come with warnings.

You will find out who you are as you read. You will see the things you did in a new light, and this will make you uneasy. You will become aware of just how serious a repeat offender of God’s laws you are, and most of all it will become evident how much your salvation cost the Son of God, to make you and me free. It will convict of sin through the work of the Holy Spirit so beware.

A personal story will illustrate this clearly. My late wife had one Bible as a teenager which she was presented with for perfect attendance at Sunday School. Not long after we started to go out together, she proudly showed me her Bible. It was her treasure she said. But I noticed water marks on one of the pages, and foolishly suggested that she had let it drop in a rain puddle. With a smile and a tear, she told me that the chapter she had been reading opened her eyes to her sin, and her Saviour. The water marks were her tears, falling onto the pages of her little Bible as she read and couldn’t stop. For her, it was the power of John chapter 14. Did you have a turnaround Bible passage or life experience?

The message is simple. Read the Bible and prepare to be changed!

Warnings

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark… Hebrews 11:7a

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9,10

Have you ever been in a situation when some kind of warning bell rings in your head, and at first you are not sure why? It can happen in the car while you are driving, causing you to take a different route, perhaps avoiding an accident? It can happen at a work event, or a family gathering where you are introduced to a new member, but very quickly, for some unknown reason you get the ‘feeling’ of unease? Or in a church setting, you meet up with a new member who claims to be a Christian, but their words and life give them away?

God works in mysterious ways, so the old phrase goes, and it is true. We cannot figure out His ways because they are above our understanding, so it should not come as a surprise to learn that this same God can protect and warn His children when something is not quite right.

Sad to say that this same protective warning can also be caused by the conduct and words of someone in national or local church leadership that we look up to. We can’t always put our finger on why this should be so, but it would be foolhardy to ignore it altogether. The warning is there for good reason, and the converse is also true. Someone could also get the same or similar warning bell from the example of our life, so it’s all the more important that we live openly and with integrity. No Christian wants to be a stumbling-block to anyone at any age!