Articles
Drowning in Sin or Living With Christ
There once was a young mouse who sought adventure so he decided to run along a riverbank where a frog lived. The frog invited the mouse into the pond saying, “Won’t you pay me a visit? I can promise you a good time if you do.” The mouse was eager to accompany the frog but hesitant because he wasn’t a great swimmer. So the frog devised the plan to tie their legs together and he would drag the mouse so he wouldn’t have to swim. Happily, the mouse jumped in, but when he did the frog dove under and drowned the mouse. However, the frog could not untie the reed that bound their legs together. Due to this, a nearby hawk noticed the bobbing mouse's body and carried it off to his nest for lunch with the frog still attached.
In Aesop’s fable above, sin is like the double-minded frog that promises temporary pleasures as a ploy to entice the hearts of God’s created to their own demise. 1 Peter 5:8 reads, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Whether it’s by power (Adam and Eve), money (Achan), our own logic (Pilate), or romantic persuasion (Samson), sin is determined and persistent to distract us from God. However, God is much stronger than the devil’s plans for us. Following sin leads to death, but if anyone resists the devil and obeys God, then that person will only gain life. 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 says, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.’ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In Matthew 7:21 Jesus issues a warning to God’s children by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” 1 Chronicles 13:5-14 records the story of Uzzah, a person who was transporting the ark for King David. In Numbers 4:15, God assigned the sons of the Levitical priest Kohath to transport the ark, but not to touch anything that was holy. This is why they transferred the ark by using a wooden pole on each side. Only in this instance, the ark was transported by an oxen cart. On the way the oxen stumbled and Uzzah went to catch the ark as it was falling and God struck him down on the spot. Although Uzzah was trying to do an honorable thing by not having the ark touch the ground, he disobeyed the command of the Lord and paid the consequence.
In Aesop’s fable, God is like the hawk because He defeats sin. 1 Peter 2:24 reads, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Due to Christ sacrificing Himself on the cross, God’s children always have hope. We must ask ourselves, “Where will we be on the day of Judgment?” Will we be carried off to eternal judgment with our sins? Or in God through Christ, will we resist the devil and live?
