Guardrails by Robin Densmore Fuson

Do you have guardrails? How do we defend ourselves with guardrails?

Highway 19 is a 20-plus-mile construction zone from our house north. The orange cones went up before we moved here. Slow progress. One morning on our way to Church, my husband Jimmy drove and I looked out the window. I discovered a new feature of the construction zone.

Guardrails.

What I found interesting is the placement. They are sporadic and on the east side of the road. Not close to the oncoming traffic but on the forest and shops side of the highway. The fear of danger isn’t from the traffic but from sliding off an embankment or falling into a culvert, or pond. One place of concern is where there are two levels of concrete.

It’s all about protection. It’s as if the zoning department said, “We don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself so we put in, two foot to twenty foot, rails.” All lengths. Different hazards. “We don’t want anyone hurt on our watch.”

I’ve heard it said, “It’s better to put a guardrail at the top of the hill than an ambulance at the bottom.”

Temptation attacks all of us. From thinking angry, bitter, malicious, prideful, sensual, jealous, etc. thoughts, acting out in backbiting, lying, gluttony, stealing, drunkenness, sexual sin, and murder. From smearing someone’s character in a “prayer” request to lying on our taxes. We stress and worry about what people think of us and our identity is wrapped in that perception, instead of who we are in Christ. 

If we are truthful, we all have temptations to sin, one way, or another. Idolatry is a huge problem for most of us. We love things more than we love the Lord our God.

What if we were proactive with our souls like the construction site is for safety? What if we had guardrails put up so we didn’t fall into those problem areas? We need to recognize our failures and discover when and where sins creep into our minds and hearts. We need to avoid going, watching, tasting, touching, and hearing things that trigger sin. An old song plays in my head. “O, be careful little eyes what you see. O, be careful little hears what you hear, O, be careful little mouth what you say… etc. (hands and feet). There’s a Father up above looking down in love, Oh be careful little…

We need to be in the Word of God and prayer to protect us from those temptations. If we are saturated with the Word of God and allow Holy Spirit full power and reign in our hearts we won’t go near the guardrails. We will stay clear of the hazards.

We will have fewer explosions of anger, less tuning on programs and shows that are degrading, less lying, backbiting, etc.

With the Holy Spirit’s help, we will decorate the beautiful guardrails in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. (Galatians 5:24 nlt)

Verse 24 is talking about things that are so powerful and have a huge pull on our souls that we need to do this daily. Weekly, monthly, bi-weekly, etc. until we no longer struggle with them.