Did you know that over half of all flood-related drowning-related deaths are complexly avoidable? That over half of them occur because someone tries to drive a car through a flooded out area of the road? It’s true. That’s why you’ll many times hear public safety officials remind people to “turn around, don’t drown” when there is the chance of flash-flooding in an area. You see, the reason that so many people die while taking this risk is that they fail to grasp the destructive power of moving water. I read somewhere that it only takes six inches of moving water to knock a full grown adult off of his feet. And it only takes about 12” of moving water to carry away a car. The force that even a small amount of moving water can generate is just absolutely incredible. The problem though is that many people just don’t realize the potential destruction of what they’re wading into until it’s too late.
Likewise, that’s why Peter warns us not to get swept away in the flood of the world’s wickedness. To turn around and not drown. Why? Because sin is enticing. Not only does sin entice us by appealing to the appetites of our flesh, the desires of our eyes, and the power of our pride—but sin also entices us by looking manageable. Like a shallow moving stream, sin deceives us by looking safe to cross. That secretly stolen pleasure—that moment of selfish indulgence lures us into the waters with the promise of a quick and uneventful crossing. But we often realize too late when we’re standing knee deep in that fast-flowing stream that the power of sin is much greater than it looked to be when we were just flirting with it on the shore.
Therefore, Peter admonishes us to be wise. To live soberly. To live prayerfully. To not join ourselves to the world by wading into its sinful pleasures. To resist the siren’s call of sin and to live lives of obedience to God’s will. For they day is quickly coming when all who have given themselves over to the power of sin will be swept up in the flood of God’s coming judgment.
May we be preserved from the dangers of sin and kept dry and secure in the holy ark of Christ’s Church, and may the Holy Spirit preserve us in both body and soul so that we might attain to eternal life on the day of our Lord’s return.