Stay Close to the Mountain

Which are you closer to—the edge of sin or the mountain of God?

A man was interviewing three people interested in the job of driving him on some narrow, dangerous mountain roads. One by one, he asked each of them, “How close can you get to the edge without going over?”

The first man held his hands about 3 inches apart and said, “About this close.” When the second candidate was asked, he held his fingers about half an inch apart and said, “This close,” thinking that he would get the job since he could get so close to the edge. The third man responded, “Sir, I don’t know how close I can get to the edge. I stay as close to the mountain as I can.”

Living on the edge

God’s people could behave like any of the three drivers from this story, which I heard in a sermon. God has called us to a way of life described as narrow and difficult (Matthew 7:13-14). The way of life we are to live is to be within the confines of God’s law (Psalm 37:31).

God has given us help to keep His law: the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). Yet the Holy Spirit can only lead us on the narrow path; it can’t keep us away from the edge. We have to follow its lead and stay close to the mountain. If we don’t, we can risk driving over the dangerous cliff of sin.

As we examine the three methods of driving on this dangerous trail, we should ask ourselves, “Which driver am I like?”

To the edge

One of the drivers was willing to risk his life by taking the car within an inch of the mountain’s edge. His desire for adventure outweighed his fear of the edge and the danger of driving the car over it.

God’s way of life is described both as a race (Hebrews 12:1) and a fight (Ephesians 6:11-13). In other words, everything is on the line once we commit to God’s way through baptism. We either succeed or fail. Realizing this should help us understand why it is essential to stay as far away from sin as possible! In our fight, we struggle to overcome sin and banish it from within us (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). If we decide that we want to see more of the action and take off a piece of God’s armor, then we are giving sin an opening to enter our lives; and without repentance, we would not survive the fall (Romans 6:23).  

In the comfort zone

The driver who could get within 3 inches of the edge had one thing holding him back—his comfort zone. This driver took it as close to the edge as he was comfortable doing—but stayed in his comfort zone of 3 inches, assuming he would not slide off the road or find that the edge had been undermined by water.

Are we comfortable flirting with sin? The Corinthian church had a major problem with being comfortable with sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). The ancient Israelites were also comfortable enough with sin that they habitually returned to sin when times were tough (1 Corinthians 10:1-10).

We must not allow ourselves to be comfortable with any sin at all. Sin not only brings death (which is bad enough), but it also brought death to Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3). We shouldn’t be able to stand the thought of getting anywhere close to sin.

Close to the mountain

The third driver is the one that we should model our lives after. Instead of taking chances and risking his life, he stayed close to the mountain. The mountain was his guide to driving safely and minimizing any risk of going over the edge.

In our analogy, the mountain is God’s way of life—defined by His law. By staying close to the “mountain” of God’s law, we guard ourselves from sin.  

The Bible tells us that the more we have God’s Word in our hearts and minds, the less likely we will fall into sin (Psalm 119:11). Having God’s Word in our hearts and minds is the greatest mountain we can anchor our lives to!

We have been presented with a choice of life and death (Deuteronomy 30:19). If we live God’s way of life and walk His narrow path, then we are choosing life. If we stray too close to the edge, however, we can inadvertently choose death. We decide where we will drive on the path of life.

Which will we be closer to—the mountain or the edge?

To learn more about the law that God gave for us to guide our lives by, read our articles on “The Ten Commandments and God’s Way of Life.”

Joshua Travers is a member of the Athens, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.