Houses on Fire
A stranger was walking into an old town and came upon the first house in a neighborhood of many houses in the town. At the side of the house the stranger saw a small plume of smoke smoldering in a shed connected to the house.
The stranger quickly went to knock on the door to warn the owner of the house. A man opened the door to only a crack and peeked out, saying angrily, “Who is it? What do you want?
The stranger responded, “Hello sir, I am a stranger and was walking by your house and saw smoke coming from the shed next to your home. There must be a small fire smoldering in there. You must put it out before it burns down your entire house! Come and I will show you!”
But the man said, “Who are you? I don’t know you. I am busy. Get off my property.” And he quickly shut the door in the stranger’s face. Amazed at the response, the stranger said to the closed door, "Well I was only trying to save you and your house."
He continued down the street and behold the next house also had a fire in the corner of the house burning ever so slowly.
The stranger ran up to knock on the door of that house. This time the lady of the house opened the door wide and the stranger could see and smell the wisps of smoke coming from inside.
“Hello Ma'am, I was walking by and saw that there is a small fire burning in the corner of your house and now I see that there is also a fire inside your house.”
The woman said, “Yes I know. All the houses here have some sort of fire or fires inside and around their houses. OK so we all tend to do stuff that causes these little fires, but I’m no different than anyone else. I'm not worried. Thank you. We’re all fine.” And she too shut the door.
And the stranger continued down the street and saw that yes, all of the houses had little fires or smoke coming from their homes. Then he came upon a house in the middle of the town. The house was completely engulfed in flames and was falling into itself. Fire and black smoke was pouring out of the shell of the house until it finally crumbled to the ground.
But to the amazement of the stranger, even though there were people walking about, he was the only one who was there watching the house fall into ashes. None of the town’s people stopped to look or seemed concerned about the residents of the burning house. They were too involved in their own business to even bother or care. One person walking passed the pile of smoking rumble shook his head and said “What a shame”, but kept on walking.
The stranger stopped them saying, “What is happening here? Doesn't anyone care? Every house in this town is on fire and will eventually burn down just like this one. I can show you how to save your houses. Let me show you how. Believe me.”
But the townspeople just looked at him and said, “Who are you to tell us how to live? We’re not doing anything wrong. We know what’s good for us. Besides, to change our way of living now is too late and it will cost too much. Nothing's going to happen to us. Go on your way!” And they all walked back to their smoky homes that had their own little fires burning in and around their houses.
And the stranger was left alone. He was not welcomed in the town.
So he went on his way. Needless to say, each and every house eventually burned to the ground and the residents all perished.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3: 16-17
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." - Revelations 3:20.
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