Pardeep Dahiya was driving his tractor-trailer rig from Sydney to Brisbane in Australia earlier this month. It was well past midnight, and he decided to pull over and catch a short nap. He awoke as daylight was dawning, and from his rear-view mirrors caught sight of a piece of cloth underneath the trailer. Upon investigating, he found a man climbing out from metal grating on the bottom of the rig.
The 43-year-old stowaway had been out drinking the night before. He decided to catch a free ride home and climb out when the truck came to a stop light. Instead, he was lulled to sleep and found he had ridden more than 250 miles by the time he awoke.
Dahiya took pity on the man and allowed him to ride with him in the cab of the truck, but decided shortly afterward to call the police. The police fined the man, and then drove him to a train station to catch a legitimate ride to his hometown.
The late preacher Ravi Zacharias has been quoted as saying this: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” That statement jumped into my mind as I read about this man catching a ride on the tractor trailer.
“Sin” is such a short word, but such a tragic fact of life. According to the Bible, sin is anything that transgresses God’s laws. 1 John 3:4 defines it clearly: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” In revealing His word through inspired writers, God has shown us the right way to live. Sin, however, rebels against God and goes off in another direction.
Are there consequences for sin? Brace yourself before you read Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death …” “Death” in this case is spiritual death. Sin separates us from God, the source of our spiritual lives. “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
Some believe they can go on a short “joy ride” with sin, and then jump off before any real harm is done. Isaiah 64:6 dispels that notion: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” How much power does a dry leaf have against gusts of wind? That’s how much power we may have in extracting ourselves from the consequences of sin.
As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Instead of giving in to sin, it’s wise to submit to Christ’s righteousness. “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:17,18).
If you’re riding with sin, you’re headed for destruction. It’s time to climb out from underneath and allow the Lord to deliver you to the best destination of all.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2023, Timothy D. Hall.
