One of my biology professors at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia in the early 1950’s was an amateur herpetologist – he liked snakes. He would pick up a rattlesnake from a cage and hold it in front of my classmates and me. He seemed to enjoy scaring students. If so, he achieved his mission in spades. I think he had cotton candy between his ears where brains were supposed to be located.
Anyone brave enough (or crazy enough) to pick up a rattlesnake had better know how to do it in a way that the business end, the one that has fangs, is under total control. Otherwise, the experience can quickly become a tragedy. The trouble with picking up snakes is that you can become careless and let your guard down. That is what happened to the professor, for a few years after I graduated I heard that he had been bitten by a rattlesnake and almost died.
There is a lesson in this true story that Christians should learn. Tolerating sin in your life can be compared to handling a rattlesnake. It is easy to say during the times when you are faced with temptation, “I’m strong. I know what I’m doing. I’ll never become a victim, for I can handle the big things.” Perhaps so, but can you handle the little things? It is often the little things that get us down. They don’t seem very dangerous, and we let our guard down.
I’m reminded of a fictitious story of a hunter who went deep into the woods to search for a bear. His goal was to shoot the bear and skin it for its coat. After a long wait, the hunter finally had a huge brown bear in his sight. He wrapped his finger slowly around the trigger of his rifle, held the barrel steady, and aimed for the center of the bear’s head.
Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger the bear turned around and, catching the hunter by surprise, said in a soft voice, “Wait! Let’s talk this thing over! Isn’t it better to talk than to shoot? What do you really want? Why don’t we negotiate?”
Lowering his rifle, the hunter replied, “Well, actually all I want is a fur coat!”
At this point the bear admitted, “And all I want is a meal!”
As the two sat down to negotiate, the hunter dropped his guard and set the gun down on a big rock. While his attention was distracted the bear made his move, had his meal, and walked out of the forest alone. Apparently the negotiations were successful. The bear had a full stomach and, in a manner of speaking, the hunter had his fur coat.
My professor who handled a rattlesnake was as careless as the hunter in the fictitious story that negotiated with a hungry bear. Christians are more careless than both of them when they fail to take sin seriously. Sin is a very insidious thing. At first glance it seems so harmless – then its bite proves fatal. The danger happens when we rationalize – saying things like “Nobody will know,” or “Everybody is doing it.”
Sin always costs dearly. For example, the majority of the Israelites who left Egyptian bondage under the leadership of Moses were not able to enter the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were able to enter because they remained faithful to God. Those who were disobedient never completed the journey.
Whose fault was it that that many of the Israelites died in the desert? It is clear that their failure to reach the Promised Land was not due to the lack of God’s provision. God had not failed them. They were determined to do things their own way, not God’s way. As the evangelist Billy Sunday wisely observed, “One reason sin flourishes in our lives is that we treat it like a cream-puff instead of a rattlesnake.”
Consider some of the Bible’s greatest personalities. Moses was known as the meekest man on the face of the earth, yet pride and presumption dealt him a fatal blow. Samson, a man of supernatural strength, became the victim to his natural desires. Elijah, who was known for his bravery, became the victim to fear. David, whom the Bible describes as “a man after God’s own heart,” became the victim of lust and committed adultery and murder, and then tried to conceal what he had done. Simon Peter discovered that the area of his life where he thought himself to be the strongest was actually weak.
God’s Word makes it clear that yielding to sin is like playing with a rattlesnake: “Each person is tempted when, by his own desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived!” (James 1:14-16a).
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