	Bob Hostetler > Devotions

Don't Take the Plunge

by Bob Hostetler

They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation (I Peter 4:4, NIV).

My wife and I have been foster parents to eleven teenage boys. John, one of our boys, broke his toe one summer. The doctor fitted him with a removable cast and instructed him not to swim or play sports. Otherwise, the doctor said, the toe would not heal properly and would probably require surgery.

One hot afternoon, however, John accompanied some friends to a nearby pond. He watched as they dove and swam and splashed in the water. They persistently enticed him to forget the doctor's instructions. John finally removed his cast and joined them.

John's friends were aware of the doctor's warnings; they also knew that John would get in trouble if he went swimming. Their goading revealed a lack of care and concern for John.

Many people today think it strange that we don't plunge with them into disobedience. They entice us to join them, and heap abuse on us when we refuse, calling us dull, narrow-minded, and judgmental.

Such behavior, however, reveals their lack of concern for us, not vice versa, for they would drag us off to judgment and condemnation with them.

How much better to "commit [ourselves] to [our] faithful Creator and continue to do good."

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