Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Before The Roof Caves In - #3002

Where we live in New Jersey, 12 straight days of rain is pretty unusual. But not long ago we got to take our turn at almost two weeks without sunshine. For most of us, it was just a soggy nuisance. But for some people across town, it meant trading in their car for a rowboat. And I turned on the news one night as they were talking about a roof that had caved in on a store in our town - it was the pharmacy I go to all the time. Apparently, water had collected until it just broke through the ceiling, and it literally washed one customer out the door like a raging river! She was okay, but the pharmacy was wrecked! Now, I couldn't help but remember something I saw on a couple of recent visits there - there were a couple of buckets on the floor, catching these drips from some leaks in that ceiling. First, some little leaks - and then suddenly the roof caved in!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Before The Roof Caves In."

Now, I'm no structural engineer, but I suspect that what happened when the roof came down wasn't really a sudden fluke. Those little leaks were hints that there was trouble up there, and the roof must have been gradually weakened, and then one day there was a downpour that no one could stop.

That kind of small leak that can lead to a big collapse doesn't just happen to buildings - it happens to people. It could be in the process of happening to you, as you allow some seemingly small sin-leaks to continue wearing you down. They don't seem to be causing much trouble right now. But then Satan seldom destroys people by explosion - he does it by erosion. And you may be much closer to the roof caving in on you than you could possibly imagine. With innocent victims being caught in the wreckage.

God very bluntly spells out the inevitable progression of sin in our lives, from the little drips to the deadly collapse. James 1:14-15 , our word for today from the Word of God. " Each one is tempted when, by his own (evil) desire, he is dragged away and enticed. After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

It starts only as a temptation that you allow yourself to entertain - a sinful desire, a slow sin-leak into your heart. Flirting with telling something other than the truth, or with a relationship that is morally out of bounds, or with trying something that has no place in a walking temple of the Holy Spirit. It might just be lingering to watch what holy eyes should never be polluted with, or listening to something that quietly feeds the dark side of you, or messing with the dark side of the supernatural.

And Satan, who wants to destroy you, has convinced you that just this much won't hurt, that you can handle this, or that you need this. Wanting it, thinking about it is just a little leak, right? But desire doesn't stay desire for long. If you let it in, it very quickly turns to sinful actions. And the little drops of desire become the steady leak of sin which becomes increasingly hard to stop doing.

"And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." Gradually weakened by a series of small compromises, you are headed for a cave-in that will bury you. It's inevitable, unless you fix that widening hole that sin is creating over your life. It's time to do what God tells us to do - "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 ). You've been cooperating with the devil and his slow wearing you down spiritually - with his subtle plan to take you where you never dreamed you'd go - to make you pay a price you could never imagine.

It's time to get on your knees and ask Jesus to be your Savior from this sin - to give you the desire and the strength to turn and fight the sin you've been flirting with. Like the rain-weakened roof a store near us, the total collapse may be much closer than you know. But you can still stop it before it all comes down, if you'll invite the Carpenter of Nazareth to repair that damage that sin has done.