In April 1986, the explosion of rector four at the Chernobyl powerplant sent a four million pound lid from the reactor core through the roof of the plant and belched out 400 times more radiation than the nuclear blast at Hiroshima. Over 350,000 pounds of uranium melted down and ate through the containment shield. It ate through 6 feet of reinforced concrete. The radioactive lava flowed through basement pipes and pooled in steam corridors until it cooled enough to be stopped in the basement of reactor four. This material, called corium, is some of the most dangerous on the planet, but also very rare. It is only formed in a nuclear meltdown. In December 1986, workers found what has now been dubbed the elephant’s foot. It is a two-ton wrinkled mass of corium in the basement of the reactor. It is extremely dangerous. Standing in the room with it for five minutes would lead to a relatively quick death. Thirty seconds near it would cause dizziness and fatigue. Two minutes of exposure and your cells would begin to hemorrhage. Four minutes would cause vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. Five minutes and you would have just days to live. How close can we get to sin?
In any form, sin is deadly. It doesn’t matter the size or shape of it. Eve just ate some fruit. She was hungry. She deserved to eat (Gen. 3:6). The problem was she had been commanded not to eat of that fruit. All Lot’s wife did was look at something the wrong way. She just looked back (Gen. 19:26). Her home was being destroyed, people she knew were dying. Who would blame her? She had been commanded not to look back. All Uzzah did was touch the ark of the covenant (1 Chr. 13:9-10). It looked like it was going to tip, so he steadied the ark. It makes sense. Anybody would do the same thing, right? God had commanded him not to touch it. Sin is deadly. Sin is a breaking of the law in any form (1 John 3:4).
We need to be careful. The psalmist wrote about the dangers of walking, standing, and sitting with those that would lead us down the path of sin (Psa. 1:1). Paul, after completing the list of the works of the flesh wrote, “I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21). People are always looking for way to get close to the edge, wondering how far is too far. We must draw a line where the Bible does. We can look to no other source as a guide to keep us on the right path. That’s why the psalmist wrote, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night… For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish” (Psa. 1:1-2). We must stay on the right path and stay away from sin.