Are you a danger to others?

One of the most uncomfortable errands I’ve had the past year was walking into a bank wearing a mask.

That is something I never imagined I would do — ever!

Any time before the COVID-19 pandemic, if you walked into a bank wearing a mask you would likely cause alarms to be sounded and the police called.

Masks have long been a sign of danger, because other than the “good guys” like healthcare workers and a few others, usually only the “bad guys” (people who would be a danger to you) wore masks.

And that’s how many people see each other today, as a danger.

The masks so many wear, even outdoors while alone, are a way of communicating to any others around them, “You’re a potential danger to me!” Yes, people also wear masks as their effort to not be a danger to others, but they’re mostly worn to protect themselves from the danger of other human beings.

There’s something much worse than a deadly virus that someone could pass on to you, and that is sin. That’s why scripture warns us in multiple passages to not expose yourself to someone who would tempt you to sin. Even the Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for ‘bad company corrupts good character,'” (1 Cor. 15:33).

But while it would be bad for someone to expose you to the danger of sin (and sin is a danger!), it is a terrible thing to be the one who tempts others to sin. The evangelist, D.L. Moody, wrote about that in “Daily Gems”:

A blind man in a great city was found sitting at a street corner with a lantern beside him. Someone went up to him and asked him why he had the lantern, since he was blind and the light of it was the same to him as the darkness. The blind man simply replied, “So that no one may stumble over me.”

We who know Christ, of course, are not blind. But like that man, we too must be providing light so that those who are lost can find their way to heaven. Without the light of Christ shining through us, His followers, they will stumble in their search for peace and satisfaction.

Sometimes, a person who professes to follow Christ chooses to believe opposite of what the Bible teaches about certain things, choosing instead to stubbornly and defiantly hang onto a pet sin or two, and then dangerously encourage others to join them. Jesus personally issued a chilling warning about being the one who purposely tempts someone else to sin:

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves!” Luke 17:1-3.

Are you watching yourself? Are are diligent about not tempting any other person to sin?

Scotty