A man owned a boa constrictor as a pet. “You’re nuts,” one
friend told him. “You’re going to fool around and get hurt by that thing.”
“Nah,” the man assured his friend. “This ol’ guy isn’t going
to bother me. He and I have an understanding.”
Later, though, the man married. And his wife quickly
insisted that he get rid of his slithering pet. “Here,” she said, presenting
her new husband with a terrier puppy, “take up with a normal pet.”
“No way!” the man argued. “Love me, love my snake. My boa is
staying.”
Several years passed and the snake grew to over eight feet
in length. Meanwhile the family was blessed with a baby daughter. The boa
always made the wife nervous, so she insisted that her husband confine the
snake to a large terrarium in his study. What she didn’t know was that,
whenever she was away, the man would still let the snake roam free throughout
the house.
One day while the wife wasn’t home, the man was awakened
from his nap by the barking of their dog. Rising from his chair he went to
investigate. The tiny canine was standing in the doorway of the nursery, hair
bristling, teeth bared, and every inch of his ten-pound body prepared to
protect his own. Stretched along the top of the crib was the snake, its head
swaying ominously toward the sleeping baby.
“No!” the man cried. “My daughter!” That same day the
husband found a zoo willing to take the snake and his pet was quickly delivered
to his new permanent home.
Moral of the story? A “pet” sin, just like a pet snake, can
appear perfectly harmless. “I’m only hurting myself,” someone might say. And
yet nothing could be further from the truth. Sin has consequences; and
sometimes those consequences hurt innocent people. And oftentimes those who are
hurt are the ones who matter to us the most.
There’s simply no such thing as a “small” sin. Just like
that little pet snake, if you keep it around and feed it, it’ll keep right on
growing. Are you harboring a “pet” sin? Confess it and get it out of your life
before you or someone you love suffers its consequence.
“We must get rid of everything that slows us down,
especially sin that distracts us” (Hebrews 12:1b, God’s Word).
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