Many years ago, when our children were still in school, Cynthia stayed home with them while I flew to Canada for a full week of ministry. I was exhausted by Friday night, so I grabbed a hamburger at the hotel café and headed back to my room.
I can still hear my heels tap across the polished floor of the big rotunda-like lobby leading to the hotel elevators. I pushed “up,” stepped into the empty elevator, and before the doors closed, two very attractive women walked in. I pushed “six” and asked, “Which floor would you like?”
In unison, they said, “Six would be fine.” Both smiled, looked at each other, and then one of them looked back at me with eyebrows raised and said, “How ‘bout it?”
I won’t lie to you. For a brief moment, the offer seemed inviting. But immediately something powerful happened within me. In the recesses of my mind, I recalled the words my mother had drilled into me as a little boy when she and I memorized Scripture together over the kitchen table. They were: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). I repeated those words slowly in my mind.
I quickly answered, “No thanks, I’m not interested. I’ve got more than I can keep up with at home.” Then the doors opened and I stepped out . . . alone. When I got to my room, I leaned against the wall in a cold sweat thinking, Thank You, Lord, for Your powerful Word!
Charles Swindoll
