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“A Rolling Stop”
A Rolling Stop
Wade Webster
Have you ever seen someone do “a rolling stop?” A rolling stop is when a person does not come to a complete stop at a stop sign before preceding through an intersection. Of course, there really is no such thing as “a rolling stop.” If a person is rolling, they haven’t stopped. They have merely slowed down.
Have you ever thought about “a rolling stop” spiritually? I am convinced that many live the same way that they drive. They never really stop like God commands them to do in His word. They merely do “a rolling stop.”
Pharaoh did “a rolling stop.” Time after time, plague after plague, we think that Pharaoh has finally learned his lesson and is going to let God’s people go. However, he never really stops. After the frogs are removed, we read, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said” (Exodus 8:15). Ultimately, “a rolling stop” will cost him his life. As you recall, after the death of his firstborn son, he lets the Israelites go. However, he changes his mind and pursues after them. When he intersects with God on the highway that God has made through the sea for His people, he will come to a complete and final stop (Exodus 14:5, 23-31).
The drunkard of Proverbs 23 likely did “a rolling stop.” When the adverse effects of alcohol arrive the drinker usually regrets their actions. They are often ashamed of how they acted when they were under its influence. They usually have thoughts of stopping when things get bad. However, when the effects of the alcohol wear off, they will seek it again. We read, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?” (Proverbs 23:29-35).
Some of the early Christians did “a rolling stop.” They escaped the pollutions of the world, but soon were entangled again. They obeyed the truth, but soon were blinded by error again. There was little to no stoppage of their old life. We read, “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:18-22). In like manner, Paul marveled at how soon some were removed from the grace of Christ to another gospel (Galatians 1:6-7).
When it comes to sin, God.doesn’t just want men to do “a rolling stop.” He doesn’t just want them to merely slow down their sinning. He wants them to come to a complete stop. Do you remember the woman that was taken in the act of adultery and thrown at the feet of Jesus? Do you remember what Jesus told her? “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Did you catch the last two words? No more. You think that Jesus would have been satisfied with this woman doing “a rolling stop?” What if she had brought her adultery almost to a stop? What if she only occasionally gave in to lust or loneliness? What if she was more discreet in the future? Do you think that Jesus would have been okay with it? I don’t believe that He would have. What about the lame man that Jesus healed by the pool of Bethesda? Jesus gave almost the same instructions to him that He gave to the adulterous woman that we just considered. We read, “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:14). We don’t know what the man had done, but he wasn’t to do it or anything like it again. If he did something worse than a thirty-eight year problem that he had just battled. God wants more than “a rolling stop.”
