Physical Beauty

November 9, 2011 Leave a comment

I walked past Tonya the other day as she was watching the Miss World beauty pageant. It didn’t take me long to notice that the host looked like a Keebler elf compared to those Amazons. I mean, really, if the girls all have to be in the 5’11-6’0 range, the show is going to have to hire a basketball player as the host. But I digress.

When I think of physical beauty, I think of the Bible’s Esther. She won a national beauty contest and became the Queen of Medo-Persia, the most powerful empire of that day (Esther 2:1-18). Working from that position she became the vessel through which God kept Haman (an Old Testament Adolf Hitler) from wiping out the entire Jewish race. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that God can use physical beauty to accomplish His work.

Of course, there’s no doubt that Satan can use it to accomplish his too, is there? Every smut magazine, pornographic film, scantily clad model, and “sex object” starlet is evidence of that. Take beauty pageants for example. The only way they will ever have my respect is if they take out the swimsuit competition. Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen.

In Proverbs 31:30, the Bible says that “beauty is passing.” Likewise, Psalm 49:14 says that it shall be “consumed in the grave.” So the real issue is: How will a woman use her beauty during those years in which she has it? Will she be an Esther who uses it for God’s glory? Or will she use it to tempt, entice, allure, and manipulate men to accomplish the devil’s purposes? I’ll leave you with Proverbs 11:22, a verse that I think a lot of women need to heed these days. It says simply:

As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.

Filed under Aging, Character, Dress and Appearance, God's Work, Personal Holiness, Sex, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

What the Bible Teaches About Drinking Alcohol (9)

November 1, 2011 6 Comments

With this post, we’ll finish up this series. I didn’t plan for the series to run quite this long anyway, but as we’ve seen this is a complex subject that brings in quite a bit of scripture. People really do it a disservice when they try to simplify it and make it a one-size-fits-all, black-or-white kind of thing. And, unfortunately, the material that I’ll offer in this last post is going to complicate things a bit more. In the previous post, I explained the term “Christian liberty.” I won’t rehash all that information here, but I do need to say a few more things on that whole subject. Think of this as me now giving you the flip side of the “Christian liberty” coin.

It’s certainly true that the Bible teaches that a Christian has a sizable amount of God-granted liberty when it comes to, shall we say, “debatable” matters. However, the same Bible also lays down three rules for the use of this liberty. Let’s take them one at a time.

Rule #1: A troubled conscience always cancels out Christian liberty. The interesting thing about your conscience is that it can’t tell the difference between a rule that can be supported by scripture and one that can’t. Really, your conscience is only as good as the information sent to it by your brain. So the problem is simple: a faulty understanding creates a misfiring conscience. Well, let’s say that a Christian is raised in a home, city, and culture in which everyone considers the drinking of even one beer a mortal sin. As we’ve seen in this series, that rule can’t be supported by scripture, but until that Christian learns this he or she is left to believe that drinking a beer is a sin. And what does that set-up do? It allows that Christian’s conscience to send out all kinds of warning bells if that Christian even looks at a beer. Yes, they will be misinformed bells, alarms sounded from faulty information, but they will be warning bells nonetheless. And so at that point the Christian’s conscience will keep him from being able to evoke Christian liberty to enjoy a beer. We can describe this as sinning against one’s conscience. 1 Corinthians 8:7 talks about this kind of thing in regard to the ancient Christians eating meat that had been offered to idols. It says:

However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak (we might say misinformed), is defiled.

Romans 14:23 applies here as well. It goes so far as to teach that even if an act isn’t a sin, it actually becomes a sin for you if you can’t do it with a completely clear conscience:

But he who doubts (doubts the scriptural legality of the act) is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Rule #2: The Christian commits sin if he exercises his liberty in a way that causes someone else to sin. Let’s say that a friend and I go out to eat at a restaurant that serves delicious ribs that just drip with sweet barbecue sauce. So we each order a plate of ribs. Then my friend listens in astonishment as I order a beer. Well, he was raised to believe that drinking a beer is a sin, but he thinks to himself, “Russell is a preacher, and so if he says that’s it alright to drink a beer, it must be.” So my friend then says to the waitress, “I’ll have a beer too.” But the problem is that as soon as those words fall from his lips his misinformed conscience starts gnawing at him. And by the time the beers come and he and I each take a sip, he is in full-blown sin. Now what happened there? I wrongly used my Christian liberty to lead my friend into sin. Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 8:9,12:

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak (misinformed)…But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

And then there is also Romans 14:15-16, 20-21:

Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food (or for our topic, drink) you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food (drink) the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good (the fact that your conscience is operating off correct information) be spoken of as evil…Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food (drink). All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man (your friend with the misinformed conscience) who eats (drinks) with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

Rule #3: Even though some acts might be allowable under Christian liberty, the Christian shouldn’t engage in them if they are not helpful to him. It’s hard to see how a Christian who is a recovering alcoholic or who has at least had several bouts of drunkenness in the past is going to be helped by drinking one beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of liquor. If a dog has bitten you in the past and sent you to the emergency room, why keep trying to pet it? If your track record shows beyond a doubt that you have a natural bent toward becoming addicted to a certain thing, why go out of your way to place yourself in the path of temptation? This third rule isn’t about categorizing an act as “sin” or “not sin.” The act in question is clearly “not sin.” But the point is that the act simply isn’t helpful (spiritually constructive, edifying, and empowering) for that specific Christian. Particularly, this rule applies to acts that have the potential to lead to addiction, a list which can certainly include the drinking of alcoholic beverages. In 1 Corinthians 6:12, the apostle Paul puts it this way:

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Now, in closing, let me say that by abiding by these three rules the Christian can keep himself within the banks of using his Biblical liberty to engage in a “debatable” act such as drinking alcohol. Christian liberty must never be used as a license to sin, but when it is rightly understood and lived out it will be a wonderful source of blessing for the Christian. After all, “liberty” is a good word, right? It’s not something to shy away from or fear; it’s something to embrace and enjoy. Just be careful, Christian, that you don’t forget these three rules. God wants you to enjoy life, but He doesn’t want you to do it like a half crazed wild-man who has no scriptural moorings. Remember that liberty walks hand in hand with responsibility. You’re not a child. So don’t act like one.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Choices, Christian Liberty, Influence, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (4)

October 14, 2011 4 Comments

I used yesterday’s post to condemn the sin of drunkenness. Now I want to share a few thoughts on addiction to alcohol. All drunkenness is sin, but there’s a difference between getting drunk once at a party and being a full-blown alcoholic.

I take no joy or pride in admitting that alcoholism runs on both sides of my family. So, trust me, I could write an encyclopedia on the subject. Isn’t it amazing how easily one glass of wine or one can of beer can turn into decades of hard drinking? The old saying is so true: “First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man.”

I think this explains why I haven’t been getting much feedback on these posts. The viewing numbers are down, and no one is hitting the “like” button. Why? It’s because many of us know all too well the incredible damage that alcohol can do to a life. That’s why we shy away from the subject. We fear that if we give ground on having even one glass of wine with a plate of lasagna at Olive Garden, one bottle of beer at a July picnic, or one shot of liquor on a cold night, that we will fan the flames of the already raging bonfire of alcohol addiction in this country. That’s why so many of us want to either ignore the subject altogether or try to cling to our fortress retreat in the high, unsoiled mountains of total abstinence. Our problem, however, is that neither approach lines up with the totality of what the Bible teaches.

Is alcoholism a very real problem? Of course it is. But does everyone who drinks become addicted? Believe it or not, no they don’t. Maybe your uncle Joe did. Maybe your cousin Sue did. Maybe your child did. Maybe you did. But that doesn’t mean that everyone does. You see, in one way alcohol is like food. When used appropriately it can be viewed as a blessing from God. It makes this difficult life a little more enjoyable. It brings pleasure to the taste buds. It can even help settle the stomach. But when it is used to sinful excess, the good turns to harm. Just as overeating creates the sin of gluttony and causes all kinds of physical, emotional, and psychological problems, drinking too much creates the sin of drunkenness and causes the same kinds of problems. Is it any wonder then that the Bible so frequently links the sins of gluttony and drunkenness together? (Deuteronomy 21:20; Proverbs 23:21; Ecclesiastes 10:16-19; Isaiah 22:12-13; Amos 6:3-7; Luke 12:19; 1 Peter 4:3)

And so how should we deal with addiction to alcohol, or any addiction for that matter (food, drugs, pornography, sex, etc.)? Well, it sounds like a cliche but the cure for every addiction is Jesus. I can think of two passages that say it all. First, there is John 8:34,36:

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin…Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

And then second, there is Luke 4:17-18:

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And so we see that Jesus is the liberator for anyone is enslaved by or held captive by addiction. He is the Moses who can lead that person out of that Egypt. He is the David who can slay that person’s giant. He is the Solomon who can erect a shining new temple of holiness in that person’s life. Addiction doesn’t intimidate Him in the least. He has released scores of captives from its grip already and stands ready and willing to do it one more time.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Choices, Christian Liberty, Drugs, Gluttony, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (3)

October 13, 2011 Leave a comment

Okay, now that we’ve taken the Bible and established that it does allow for some drinking of wine (see part 1 of this series) and other alcoholic drinks (see part 2), we really need to hit the sin of drunkenness head on. Of course, we certainly won’t have any trouble finding scriptures to do so. God’s written word is chocked full of such texts. Here is a small sampling:

1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)

2. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

3. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

4. Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. (Joel 1:5)

5. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! (Habakkuk 2:15)

6. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:13-14)

7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:7-8)

As you can see, the Bible comes down like thunder on the sin of drunkenness. So even though the drinking of alcoholic beverages is allowable, the allowance is limited. It’s not a “get out of jail free” card. It’s not a sanctioning to drink yourself into a stupor. There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and it’s a line that comes into play pretty quickly.

Actually, the Bible even describes some situations in which drinking alcoholic beverages was forbidden altogether. They were as follows:

1. Israel’s priests weren’t allowed to drink either wine or strong drink when they entered the tabernacle (temple). (Leviticus 10:8-11; Ezekiel 44:21; Isaiah 28:7)

2. It wasn’t good for rulers (kings and princes) to drink wine or strong drink because it might impair their judgment. (Proverbs 31:4-5)

3. Any Jew who volunteered to take the “vow of a Nazarite” had to completely separate himself or herself from all wine, strong drink, vinegar, and grape juice. (Numbers 6:1-3; Judges 13:1-5; Luke 1:13-15)

But to get back to the point, even with a certain amount of alcoholic consumption being allowed among the Jews, the problem began when a Jew abused the privilege and got drunk. This explains the various passages which differentiate between acceptable drinking and crossing the line. Here are some of them. The words I’ve put in boldface mark the line between drunkenness and acceptable drinking:

1. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. (Proverbs 23:29-30)

2. Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink. (Isaiah 5:22)

3. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities. (1 Timothy 5:23)

4. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to (addicted to) wine… (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

5. Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to (addicted to) much wine… (1 Timothy 3:8)

And so we see that it doesn’t take much to drink yourself right into sin. This is why I felt such trepidation as I wrote those first two posts of this series. Frankly, it would be a whole lot easier for me, as a preacher, if God just outlawed wine and strong drink completely. But He doesn’t do that. What He does do, though, is load the Bible with very clear warnings about the danger of drunkenness. I can only hope that you will heed them.

Filed under Addiction, alcohol, balance, Christian Liberty, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Forgiveness, But Not Change

October 3, 2011 2 Comments

I live in a small, rural county in the so-called “Bible belt.” It’s the kind of place where there is a church on every corner, down every side road, and up every holler. Consequently, it can be hard to find someone who has no qualms about admitting to not knowing Christ as Savior. What I mean is, it seems like just about everyone I meet was baptized as a kid, has their name on a church roll, claims to attend somewhere, knows pastor so-and-so as a friend, etc. You get the idea. We’ve got religion, church, the Bible, and prayer running out our noses.

But what bothers me about our little county (approximately 15,000 in number) is how easily we blur the line between authentic Christian conduct and rank worldliness. Some of the same people who go to church every Sunday morning don’t mind doing a good deal of drinking and carousing on Saturday night. Some of the ones who rant and rave about the sexual sin of homosexuality evidently don’t understand that adultery falls in that same category. Some of the ones who are quick to request prayer for themselves or their families are also far too well versed in backbiting, gossiping, and rumor spreading.

My point is that a lot of people love to hear about Christ, the Bible, forgiveness, grace, and salvation, but the numbers dwindle significantly when the topics become repentance, godly conduct, separation from the world, and personal holiness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not promoting a works-based plan of salvation here. I myself sin every day and have to spend more time than I should asking the Lord for forgiveness of those sins. But with me sin is the exception, not the rule. It occurs outside the norm. It’s the uncommon, not the common. That’s what salvation has done to me (or better yet for me).

Perhaps an illustration will help me say what I’m trying to say. Little Billy was dressed for church in his Sunday best, but his mother wasn’t quite ready to go. So he went out in the back yard and started playing in the dirt. In just a few minutes his clothes were absolutely filthy. When his mother saw him she was furious. Passionately, Billy said, “Mom, I’m real sorry. Please forgive me.” She replied, “Okay, you’re forgiven but go change.” But Billy didn’t want to go back in the house and go to the trouble of dressing again. So he said, “No, I’ll just go as I am.” You see, he wanted forgiveness but not change. And, unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of Billys running around out there these days.

Filed under adultery, Backsliding, Change, Church attendance, Disobedience, Forgiveness, Hypocrisy, Personal, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, salvation, Sin Tagged with , , , , , , ,

God Is Not Mocked

September 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Dr. R.G. Lee was one of the most famous Baptist preachers who ever lived. From 1927 to 1960 he served as the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During those years the church grew in membership from 1,400 members to 10,000. He also served three terms as the president of his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Dr. Lee once used the following illustration:

Newburg, New York had a society led by Bline Palmer called The Druidical Society. It had a high priest and met to ridicule and destroy religion. Infamous and blasphemous acts were performed. At a meeting they burned a Bible, baptized a cat, partook of a mock sacred meal and administered sacrament to a dog.

In the evening, he who administered the sacrament was attacked with a violent inflammatory disease and died before morning in great bodily and mental agony, his inflamed eyeballs protruding and his tongue swollen. Another was found dead the next morning. A third died in a fit a few days later.

In five years of the organization of the society, all thirty-six of the original members had met strange and premature deaths: one of horrible swelling, one found dead in bed, one died in convulsions, one froze to death, three died in accidents, five were suicides, two were stoned to death, seven died on the gallows and eight were shot.

What does the Bible say? “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked…” (Ephesians 6:7).

Filed under God's Holiness, God's Wrath, God's judgment, Rebellion, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, The Depravity of Man Tagged with , , , , , ,

Making Excuses For Your Sins

September 13, 2011 1 Comment

Four old codgers were playing poker for money in the back of their local store. Suddenly the sheriff walked in on them and said, “Gambling again, eh? This time I’m going to arrest you fellows just to teach you a lesson.”

At that point the excuses started flying. One of the men said, “I wasn’t playing sheriff; I just dropped in to talk.” Another one said, “I wasn’t playing either, Sheriff; I was just visiting.” A third said, “I just came in to warm up by the stove.”

The fourth man sat quietly as all this went on around him. He continued to hold his cards and never once took his eyes off them. The sheriff looked at him and said with a smile, “Well, you certainly can’t deny that you’ve been playing cards.” The old man, still not looking up from his cards, slowly drawled, “Now, Sheriff, who would I be playing with?”

Oh, the excuses we make for our sins! We blame everyone from our parents to the government, when all the while the heart of the problem lies with us. Please understand that I’m not minimizing any sins that have been committed by your parents or your government, but also understand that there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your own sins. Face it, you have about as much of God as you want in your life.

You probably know Christ’s most famous parable, the one about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). But do you know the verse that marks the turning point of that story? It’s Luke 15:17, which says of the son:

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’”

Be sure not to miss those all important words: But when he came to himself. You see, the prodigal’s life didn’t change for the better until he conducted a personal evaluation and was sufficiently shocked by what he found. And notice that Jesus didn’t say that the young man came to a revelation about how his parents had raised him, or one about how others had done him wrong, or one about the ills of his society. No, he came to a revelation about himself. He thought, “I brought myself to this lowly state.”

I don’t know your life, but perhaps you, like the prodigal, need to come to yourself. Maybe you need to stop blaming others for your troubles and start admitting to your own role in creating your mess. Excuses will only keep the status quo in tact and prevent you from returning to the blessings of the father’s house. I could also say a lot here about the importance of confession and repentance, but I’ll leave that off for another time. Right now the first order of business is to get you to realize that you are the problem. Until that happens, you’ll never be ready for the next step.

Filed under Addiction, Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Change, Personal Holiness, Problems, Rebellion, Sin Tagged with , , , , ,

Bobby Leach

September 8, 2011 1 Comment

Englishman Bobby Leach lived an interesting life. On July 25, 1911 he became the second person to pull off the stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The feat didn’t come without some injury, though. He spent the next six months in the hospital recovering from two broken kneecaps and a broken jaw.

Upon his recovery, Leach, who had once been a performer with the Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey circus, toured as a celebrity throughout Canada, England, and the United States. He made a good living speaking in the vaudeville shows and lecture halls of the day. He would show off his steel barrel, talk about his experience, and pose for pictures.

In 1920 Leach attempted to bolster his declining fame by swimming Niagara Falls’ whirlpool rapids. He made several attempts but was unsuccessful each time. What made the attempts all the more incredible was the fact that by then Leach was his sixties.

Then came 1926. While on a publicity tour in New Zealand, Leach slipped on an orange peel, took a bad spill, and broke his leg. Infection set in, and eventually the leg became eaten up with gangrene. The leg was amputated in an attempt to save Leach’s life, but it was to no avail. He died two months afterward.

Isn’t it ironic that Bobby Leach survived his daredevil attempts at Niagara Falls, but saw the end of his life begin when he slipped on a simple orange peel? In Knight’s Book of Illustrations, Dr. Stewart Anderson uses Leach’s life as an illustration of spiritual truth. He says:

“Some great temptations, which roar around us like Niagara, may leave us unharmed. But a little, insignificant incident may cause our downfall simply because we are not looking for it.”

The truth is, we get into trouble when we don’t have our spiritual guard up, aren’t paying attention, and think we’ve got everything under control. That’s just when some “little” temptation will bring us down. Keep this in mind as you move through life, and be sure to watch out for those orange peels!

Filed under Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Nibbling Your Way Into Real Trouble

August 31, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s a good word from Mike Yaconelli, who writes for The Wittenburg Door:

I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and every once in awhile a cow wanders off and gets lost…Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply: ‘Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of green grass right next to a hole in the fence, so it nibbles on that one, and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.’
…Backsliders keep moving from one tuft of activity to another, never noticing how far we have gone from home or how far away from the truth we have managed to end up.

Tell me, when was the last time that you looked around and got your spiritual bearings? Could it be that you have nibbled yourself right through a hole in the fence and are currently a long, long way from where God would have you to be? You didn’t start out with the intention of leaving your pasture. You didn’t have a premeditated plan to abandon God’s will. But it just kind of happened as you nibbled your way along through life.

I especially like what Yaconelli says about the backslider not noticing how far away from the truth he has managed to end up. Isn’t it amazing how we start to rationalize our sin or explain it away the further we get from walking with Christ? The black and white of scriptural truth becomes more and more a dull gray. And once that rationalizing and explaining away begins, all bets are off as to where we might end up. It doesn’t take long for a simple case of backsliding to become a full blown case of rebellion and catastrophe. Don’t let that happen to you.

Filed under Backsliding, God's Will, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

When the Stick Breaks

August 29, 2011 2 Comments

Here’s a true story. A man caught a large rattlesnake and kept it in a cage. One day he got brave with the snake and decided to use it to jokingly give his wife a good scare. He opened up the cage, firmly placed a stick directly behind the snack’s head, caught the snake, and put it into a bag. Then he carried the bag into his living room and dumped the snake out onto the floor in front of his wife. Naturally, she shrieked in horror and fled the room as the man enjoyed a hearty laugh.

Then came the job of getting the snake back into the bag. The man took his stick and again placed it behind the snake’s head even as the rest of the snake’s body writhed and twisted. Everything was going as planned until the man made the mistake of pressing down too hard on the stick. Suddenly the stick snapped and broke in the middle. This freed up the snake’s head and with lightning speed the snake turned and struck the man’s index finger. As the deadly fangs plunged deep into the finger, in rushed the poison.

So how does the story end? Well, thanks to good medical treatment the man’s life was saved. The finger, however, had to be amputated. For the rest of his life when someone would ask the man how he lost his index finger he would say, “A snake bit me.” And when he was asked, “How did a snake bite you?” he would answer, “The stick broke.”

Alright, now let’s move to the spiritual application of this story. Just as that fellow had a pet rattler, you have a pet sin. This is the sin to which you are most vulnerable and susceptible. (I promise not to ask what your pet sin is if you promise not to ask what mine is!) But what I will do is implore you to resist the temptation to play around with your sin. Don’t trust whatever “stick” you’ve got that you think enables you to enjoy the sin while avoiding its poison. Believe me, sooner or later that “stick” will break and your pet sin will bite you. And when it does, you’ll inevitably pay a high price because of it. Consider yourself warned.

Filed under Addiction, Backsliding, Choices, Personal Holiness, Sin, Temptation Tagged with , , , , ,

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