Growing up, I was told a story about a little boy who wanted a pet for his birthday. His parents agreed and told him to think thoroughly on the pet he wanted, since he will have the sole responsibility of taking care of it. The little boy told his parents that he wanted a little green snake. His parents at first, thinking it was a joke, burst out laughing. Upon realizing he was serious, they set about convincing him to change his mind, but his mind was made up. He didn’t budge. All he wanted was a little green snake. His parents decided to buy the snake for him. They took the boy to the pet shop, and he picked a little green snake. The little boy fed the snake, bathed it, researched on how to make a snake comfortable, and took good care of the snake. He even slept with the snake on his bed.
Sometime later, as the snake grew, it began sneaking out at night to meet with other snakes in the neighborhood. The other snakes didn’t understand why this snake was comfortable living with humans. They told him of all the harm humans can cause to him, including killing him. They advised the snake to kill the family before the family kills him. The snake defended the family till one day, another snake was killed by a human right infront of him. The snake realized it had to act fast. In the night, while everyone slept, the snake killed the boy and his parents. The little green snake was not so little again. It had grown big and poisonous.
I guess you’ll be wondering, why this story? Most times as Christians, we entertain little sins that look beautiful and harmless. Even though we know or are warned about the dangers involved, we focus on only the beauty and ignore all we know. We feed these little snakes and before long, they become so big and dangerous that they end up destroying us and those around us. The Bible says that the little foxes destroy the vineyard. The little lies we make excuses for, bending of the truth, little little thefts, envy, dark thoughts and every other sin we commit but see as insignificant, turns to be the big snake that destroys us and those around.
As we end this year and make resolutions for the next, let’s try to do away with the little green snakes in our lives and resolve not to pick them back up in the coming year. Remember that if you do not deal with them while they are still little, they will get out of control as they grow and it will become difficult to deal with them at that stage. May God help us as we kill all the snakes in our lives.
Great read. Great caution as we step into the New Year. Thanks for this.
Shalom!
Very interesting and powerful lessons learnt. Thanks a lot. God bless you.