A squirrel sat at the end of the driveway, posed pretty as a picture.

As my car approached, the little beast had a decision to make.

Now there are trees and wooded areas on both sides of my driveway. You would think that any squirrel in its right mind would hop off to the safe zones found to the right or to the left.

But what does this one do? 

It turned around and meandered straight ahead to the road, where a car was rapidly approaching.

I exclaimed, “Oh, no! Stop!” and then watched in suspense to see how the drama would unfold.

Within seconds, it was over. The squirrel’s instincts kicked in, and it darted to the left, just barely missing becoming roadkill.

What went through that squirrel’s brain that made it go to the road in the first place? I’m not an expert in squirrel behavior or physiology, but as an objective observer, it sure seemed to have several safer and better options than the one that brought it the closest to going to the Land of Eternal Nuts.

But people, we are more like the squirrel than we would like to admit:

How many times have we seen friends get stuck in the same old bad habits and refuse to admit that they need help?

How many times are we drawn to the drama and the danger when common sense says we need to avoid it?

A child warned not to touch a hot stove might listen, but if you’ve been around kids for any length of time, you better keep an eye on them or else get a cold pack ready.

If there’s a big red button in front of us that says, “Do not push,” we might look to our right, and then to our left. If no one is watching, we tentatively reach out our hand, extend a finger, and press down, just to see what will happen.

And why? Why don’t we have more sense than a squirrel?

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Romans 7:18 ESV

Our brains might be capable of complex thought and communication, but we are truly worse off than a pea-brained squirrel.

For a squirrel doesn’t know evil. It only knows to stop, go, and find a nut.

We, however, have an awareness of the depravity of human nature—in everyone else except for ourselves! How readily we see the problems and the evil in others when we need to be vigilant over the state of our own hearts.

May we, like Paul, be able to say, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

You have a way out!

Disaster averted.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I Corinthians 1:18 ESV