A Nice Letter but a Bad Guy

In 1937, a natural gas leak at the local school in New London, Texas caused a massive explosion that killed upward of 295 students and teachers, the deadliest school disaster in US history. As you can imagine people were heartbroken for the community. Condolences and sympathy poured in from all over including foreign nations. Once such letter read:

“For the terrible New London catastrophe costing so many young lives, I convey to Your Excellency my sincere condolence as well as that of the German people”. – Adolf Hitler

It is because of this tragedy that natural gas now smells. In its natural state, it is odorless as well as colorless so the pungent smell is added so a leak can be sensed. Some things may seem harmless but can be very, very dangerous.

If you were only to read Hitler’s letter you might think him a decent sort of guy. Yet the reality was very different. Jesus warned us about those who cloak themselves as innocent yet in reality as on the attack (Matthew 7:15). They can be hard at times to sniff out.

In Hebrews 5:11-14, we are told of the need to move to maturity in the faith. The reason is so “…for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Only in maturity in the faith will we have the right nose to sniff out the wicked from the right. If we just look at the surface of things we might see the evil lurking underneath. It isn’t what a person portrays in a moment that is who they are but what they do in after that shows the truth.

We need to have the maturity to spot that.

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