Are you familiar with the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water? The way the folk tale goes is, if a frog jumps into a boiling pot of water it will jump out immediately. If it is placed into tepid water and the temperature is increased gradually, the frog will stay in until it boils to death due to its cold-blooded nature.
The problem is that the potential harm is ever so slightly increased in minute increments, almost unnoticeable, until the harm is actually done.
This same phenomenon is going on in the world around us. Take TV for example. What has happened to TV in the last 40 years? It seems that the envelope is being pushed every which way. Programming seems to have an agenda to subtly introduce more and more sex, violence, and things God abhors. We are being asked to accept actions contrary to God’s ways as being OK. You may be able to recall some shows once considered risqué. By today’s standards most would be considered tame.
Well, the same thing could be happening to us each and every day as we battle Self, Satan and Society.
Are we compromising and giving in a little here and a little there? Are we accepting what God says we shouldn’t? OR, are we standing up for what’s right? Are we following Christ’s example and living by every Word in the Bible?
One way to keep from being affected by these never ending little temperature increases is to take a page from the Bereans. They… received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily… (Acts 17:11).
What it boils down to is this; if we are armed with the Word of God and use it as our meter of right and wrong, we will be less likely to succumb to error or stray from the narrow path that leads to the Kingdom of God.
