"HOW CLOSE CAN YOU COME
TO THE DITCH"
There was once a rich man who was very fond of his aged mother. One day he was going to hire a chauffeur to take her out for a drive every afternoon. Three men asked of the job.
The rich man said to them, "I wouldn't want any accidents to happen while you are taking my mother for a drive. I'll give you all the same test and see how well you can drive. Beside the road, there is a ditch. I want you to see how close you can drive to that without falling in."
The first driver said to himself, "This is easy." He got behind the steering wheel and came zooming down the road to miss the ditch by four inches.
The second man whispered to himself, "I can do better than that." He came zooming down the road and missed the ditch by two inches.
The third man had been thinking very hard in the meantime. He missed the ditch by three feet.
The other two men giggled. But the rich man said to him "The job is yours. I want a man who will drive safely. A safe driver does not come as close to the ditch as he can."
The lesson is that we must avoid the occasion of sin. We must not see how close we can come to sin without falling into it. We must stay away from it. If, then, whenever you go out with so and so, he tempts you to steal, stay away from him. If when you are with a certain girl, you always backbite someone, stay away from her. Those people are bad company for you. They are occasions of sin and are to be avoided. If you know that you have sinned in someone's company, avoid him in the future. If you curse and swear when you are with a certain group, avoid that group. Do not see how close you can come to the ditch of sin without falling in. Stay in your lane. The man who was hiring the chauffeurs knew that if they drove close to the ditch all the time they would fall into it some day.
The devil tries to tempt you to come close to sin. He knows that you will fall into it if you do. You can fool him if you want simply by staying in your own lane and by not driving close to the ditch. Stay away from the occasions of sin. Root sin out of your soul and you will be preparing the way of the Lord.
The rich man said to them, "I wouldn't want any accidents to happen while you are taking my mother for a drive. I'll give you all the same test and see how well you can drive. Beside the road, there is a ditch. I want you to see how close you can drive to that without falling in."
The first driver said to himself, "This is easy." He got behind the steering wheel and came zooming down the road to miss the ditch by four inches.
The second man whispered to himself, "I can do better than that." He came zooming down the road and missed the ditch by two inches.
The third man had been thinking very hard in the meantime. He missed the ditch by three feet.
The other two men giggled. But the rich man said to him "The job is yours. I want a man who will drive safely. A safe driver does not come as close to the ditch as he can."
The lesson is that we must avoid the occasion of sin. We must not see how close we can come to sin without falling into it. We must stay away from it. If, then, whenever you go out with so and so, he tempts you to steal, stay away from him. If when you are with a certain girl, you always backbite someone, stay away from her. Those people are bad company for you. They are occasions of sin and are to be avoided. If you know that you have sinned in someone's company, avoid him in the future. If you curse and swear when you are with a certain group, avoid that group. Do not see how close you can come to the ditch of sin without falling in. Stay in your lane. The man who was hiring the chauffeurs knew that if they drove close to the ditch all the time they would fall into it some day.
The devil tries to tempt you to come close to sin. He knows that you will fall into it if you do. You can fool him if you want simply by staying in your own lane and by not driving close to the ditch. Stay away from the occasions of sin. Root sin out of your soul and you will be preparing the way of the Lord.
Sunday Morning Storyland
Sermons for the Children's Mass
Bruce Publishing Company, 1946
557,418
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