A nasty virus like smallpox or ebola is never “safe,” even when it’s contained in a laboratory. A contained biohazard is safer, but it is never safe.
No matter how many times a lab technician sees a sign like this one, she can never, ever grow lax in her protocols for suiting up, handling, and disposing of the biohazards she sees every day. Even if she spends her entire life working in this lab, she must not lose respect for the danger. Her life depends on it.
As Christians, perhaps we should adopt a similar mindset regarding sin. Like that lab technician, we spend our entire lives around danger. And we can never afford to get comfortable with it. Our lives depend on our caution.
No, we can never relax around sin. We must respect it for the dangerous animal it is. We shouldn’t take it out of its box and play with it, foolishly believing that we’ve got it adequately caged, declawed, and under control. Sin is always dangerous.
Moses understood this. “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:25, 26, NIV).
Like Moses—and like that lab technician—we must always respect the danger of sin. Christ paid a huge price to rescue us from it.