Monkey Snare

 

 

Monkey Snare

 

                             

“I happened to return to the village two weeks later and the monkey

 was still running around with his fist inside the bottle, holding

onto the shiny coin.  He would not let go of it.”

 

(Micah Tuttle, The Amazon Man, missionary to Bolivia)

  

    Hanging on to one’s personal besetting sin is as ridiculous and encumbering as the monkey hanging on to a coin, or a banana, inside the bottle. As long as his fist is clinched inside the bottle, he is a slave to that silly treasure.  Like the monkey, we refuse to let go.  We are addicted.  We want the pleasure of the sin more than we want freedom in Christ.  More than we want to have fellowship with our Lord and Savior.  What a sorry, sorry situation we find our self in.

  

“The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin

 hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline,

 led astray by his own great folly.”

(Proverbs 5:22-23)

 

 

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin

 that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance

 the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,

 the author and perfecter of our faith.”

(Hebrews 12:1-2)

 

 

“Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free

from the law of sin and death…  Those who live according to

 the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;

 but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds

set on what the spirit desires.  Those controlled by the sinful

 nature cannot please God.  You, however, are controlled not

by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God

lives in you.”  (Romans 8)