There is a channel of water on the island of Euboea in the Aegean Sea that reverses its direction about fourteen times a day. This mysterious and unnatural action has long mystified scientists. This constantly changing channel could well have been used as an illustration by Paul when he wrote in Ephesians 4:14, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” Man, by nature, is a vacillating creature; easily swayed by the tiniest of strains. There are some so unstable in doctrine that the slightest pressure or influence brought to bear on them would effect a change in their views.
In stark contrast to these people, Jesus commended John the Baptist as being stable or firm in his convictions. In Matthew 11:7, Jesus asked, “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?” John’s fidelity to the truth, even his imprisonment and ultimate death, are a commentary of his faithfulness to firm conviction. Our era has a shortage of men and women like John. There are too few men and women of real conviction; too few willing to stand up and be counted as faithful to the Bible. Sometimes it is more than a water channel that changes course fourteen times a day!
Adapted from Jerry Johnson
