Playing with Sin

When we were in Tahiti on our honeymoon, we were walking along the beach at night.  I picked up this crab about the size of a computer mouse.  I picked him up by the back of his shell because I knew if I held him in the right position I could control him without getting pinched.  But, as I held him he kept squirming around.  The next thing I know I feel his claw clamp onto my finger.  I shake him off, but his claw broke off and was still attached to my finger.  It hurt like crazy.

I thought I had that crab under control, but it was pretty dark outside and I couldn’t see him reaching underneath his belly trying to pinch me.  As he squirmed around he had moved just enough to get his pinchers in range of my fingers.  And I wouldn’t have thought a pinch from crab that small would have hurt SO much.

Sin, is like that.  We think we can control it, so we play around with it and play around with it.  But, at some point it will pinch us.  The dangers of it are hidden in the darkness, but they will get us. 

When I tried to shake the crab, its claw still had me in its clutches.  That’s the same with sin, once you have allowed it to latch onto you, it’s hard to shake it.   You don’t want to wait until it harms you to try to stop.

Like I thought that little crab couldn’t hurt much, we often think that the consequences of what we’re doing won’t hurt much, but they can really hurt us and others badly.  Even after I pried the pincher off my finger, it hurt long after.  That is true with sin as well.  You don’t want to wait until it harms you to try to stop.  Because once it has inflicted its harm, you will likely suffer the effects for a long time.  My finger only hurt for a couple days, but sin can harm you emotionally, mentally, and relationally for the rest of your life.