Sin and Marshmallows

We had 15 to 20 people over the other evening for a wiener roast and s'mores. As I watched the marshmallows being roasted over the open flames, I thought of how sin affects each of us. Some of our guests preferred their marshmallows to simply get a little warm while others shoved theirs straight into the flames until they became black.

Isn't that a good comparison of how we are in relation to sin. Some of us "play" on the edges of sin allowing it to taint us only a little. But then, there are others who just jump in head first and and before long their lives become black from it's influence.

But one thing I noticed about ALL of the marshmallows. They were ALL changed--they were no longer fresh and firm. Each of the marshmallows had begun to soften and melt to one degree or another because of the heat from the fire. There was no returning the marshmallow back to it's original form. Every marshmallow had even changed color. Not one was still snowy white. Not all were black, but each had turned dingy. Each had been tainted.

When we allow sin to come near us, we choose to become tainted--stained. And the truth is, we will never be unaffected by it again. The sin has permantly changed us. The closer and longer we play with the fire of sin, the blacker and more severely we are changed, but each of us have become stained to one degree or another.

Praise God, there is one drastic difference between us and the marshmallows in our analogy--Jesus can and will wash us so that we can be white as snow again. However, he warns us to stay away from the fire lest it consume us completely.

Dana Burk