Do Not Trespass

A good many years ago, I visited Lion Safari Country near W. Palm Beach, Florida. It is an area where the visitors are caged, not the animals! You are caged within your car! You drive through miles and miles of jungle‑like countryside, with wild beasts of all sizes and descriptions. These wild beasts come within a few feet of your closed windows as you drive by.

There are a few basic rules here: No convertibles. Windows and doors must be kept tightly closed at all times while you are there. Any violation of these rules suggests a tragic ending. A sign at the main entrance suggests grimly, "Trespassers will be eaten!"

So it is that in all of life around us, we discover: "Trespassers will be eaten!" We are eaten up by violation of certain basic rules. Life has real built‑in requirements, and he who disregards them is as foolish as a careless camper in Lion Safari Country.

Certain laws have been built into the grain of the universe by a very wise Creator. Laws such as: "I am my brother's keeper". (Gen. 4:9) Or laws such as: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt. 22:37‑39) Or laws such as" "He who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

Why is it that so many people are coming to the dead‑ends of life? Why are so many being eaten up by their own selfish greed? The goals of their life are leading them to a blank wall. Why is it that so many are going in the wrong direction? Their energies seem to be pitted against God's rules of life rather than for them.

To hit the bull's eye of God's purposes for each one of us is no easy task. But it is never accomplished by neglecting the basic rules of courtesy, and good will, and love, and forgiveness. These are the high goals of the high road to heaven, and require our best obedience to them today and always.