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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

TODAY'S BARGAINOMICS BIBLE PASSAGE

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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