Long before the days of the automobile, when the wealthy traveled by horse and carriage, there was a very rich man who’s house was high on top of a mountain. His carriage driver was getting up in years, and the man knew he would have to find a new driver soon. So, he put an advertisement in the local newspaper in the town that was located near the base of the mountain. He announced that he would be interviewing for a new driver on a certain day, and that everyone who wished to apply for the position should be at his house on that day.
Well, on the day when he was to give the interviews, many people lined up outside his front door eagerly waiting. He had his butler bring them in, one by one, and he would talk with them.
He would conclude his interview of each person with the same question, “As you traveled up her this morning for this interview, you noticed the road that leads up the side of the mountain to my house. If I were to choose you as my new driver, how close to the edge of the road do you think you could get with my carriage without my life being in any danger?”
The road coming up the side of the mountain was long and steep. On one side of the road was the mountain that continued upward, and on the other side of the road there was no shoulder, just a steep drop that went down hundreds of feet to the ground below the mountain. All it would take was for one wheel of the carriage to go over the side, and the entire carriage, horses, and riders would plummett to their death below.
Many of the men boasted about how good of a driver they were, and how they could come within mere inches of the side of the road, and the rich man’s life would be perfectly safe. However, soon a man came into the study where the rich man was interviewing, and when asked the same question, he replied, “I don’t know sir. All I know is that if you choose me as your driver, I’m going to stay as far away from that side of the road as I can possibly get.” And the rich man immediately told everyone else to go home, he had found his driver.
The Bible tells us in Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Yet, we try to stay as close to this world as we can possibly get, and still follow Jesus Christ.
We, like the man in the above story, should stay as far away from this old wicked world as we can possibly get. Truthfully, the new driver of the carriage would most of the time be perfectly fine driving up the side of the mountain and having the carriage only a foot or so away from the edge without any trouble. But, what would happen if one of the carriage wheels hit a large rock or something, it wouldn’t really take much to push it closer to the edge than the driver wanted it. And in our lives, we think we can control our flesh and play around with this world, and not be in any danger. There are countless thousands who have thought the same thing only to end up with their lives destroyed because they didn’t want to stay away from the evil that surrounds us.
The new driver of that carriage knew that the absolute safest place for him to drive the carriage was as close to the other side of the road as he could get. And the same is true with our lives, the best and safest place for us to live is as close to Jesus Christ as we can possibly get. For in HIM we find protection, strength, and all that we need to fight off the temptations of this world. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us, “Abstain from every form of evil.” And only through God’s help can we do that.