That Little Voice

My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full. – Proverbs 8:19-21.

(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) – Romans 2:14-15.

As usual, Jap Khalsa assembled and checked his equipment as he prepared to wash windows in the high-rise Imperial Bank building. Even though the rope he had was not the one he ordinarily used, he checked it carefully and decided to use it. Over the side he went in his bosun’s chair, fluidly working his way from window to window.

Ninety minutes later, at the twenty-first floor, the rope snagged and refused to slip through the mechanism moving the chair. Unable to move, Khalsa banged on a window for help. When firemen arrived, a veteran of cliff rescues volunteered to be lowered to Khalsa, careful not to make the slight mistake that could drop both to the pavement. After several hours the grateful workman climbed over the rail to safety. “I should have listened to my instinct about that rope,” he later said. By refusing to obey the “little voice,” he had hazarded his life.

The twenty million laws legislators have written can’t enforce even one of the Ten Commandments. But one conscience—one inner voice—forgiven, redeemed, and enlightened by God’s Spirit, will keep a person from breaking any.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.