Stay Out of the Ditch

Nº 369

August 26, 2025

[God has] helped me understand that accountability is closely tied to visibility and that personal holiness will not come through anonymity but through deep and personal relationships with my brothers and sisters in the local church. Life is far too difficult and we are far too sinful to live in solitude. - Tim Challies

The man in front of me wore a shirt with a picture of a dangerous mountain road and the words, Real Men Don’t Need Guardrails.

That may seem courageous, but on the highway of life, nothing could be more wrong. We all need guardrails to keep us out of ditches or from tumbling over cliffs that lie just beyond the roads’ shoulders. Guardrails may come as a rebuke or as encouragement, but all are designed to keep us going in the right direction.

God has provided us with four guardrails; we need to use them all.

• Church – We need to regularly meet with other believers to realign our hearts with God’s.

• Friends – Those who know us well can nudge us away from danger and encourage us to stay in our safe lane.

• Family – Our family members see the best and worst of us. They can speak truth to us as we navigate the dangerous twists and turns of life.

• Disciplines – Ultimately, we must discipline ourselves to spend time with God, in his word and in prayer.

Put guardrails in your life and be a guardrail for others. “Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Excelsior,

Dan Bolin