Ridiculous? Yes! Inevitable? No! - article by Joel Hempel
This past Sunday, Pastor Scott preached both a sad and hopeful sermon about the “cycle of sin” and how the cycle was broken by the death and resurrection of Christ. But before he got to the gospel, he pointed out the ridiculousness of the sin cycle – not only for Israel but for us as well.
There is a fable about a scorpion who needed to get across the river. So, he approached a turtle and asked if the turtle would let the scorpion sit on the turtle’s back and be carried across the river. “I’ll make it worth your while and pay you a handsome amount,” appealed the scorpion.
"No!" replied the turtle. "You will sting me, and I will die."
"I will not sting you. I promise! Besides, if I sting you, we will both die."
“Well, okay. I guess it’ll be alright.” the turtle relented.
So the scorpion got on the back of the turtle, and as the turtle was nearing the middle of the river, the scorpion stung the turtle on his head.
As they were both sinking to their death, the turtle cried out: “Why did you do that? You promised you would not!”
“I’m a scorpion. It’s my nature to sting. That’s what scorpions do.”
That's also what sin does. It stings. Because sin has its origin in Satan, it intends to kill and destroy. Sin is not to be toyed with. But the truth is, we all play around with sin. And too often, we let Satan have his way with us as we get caught up in the cycle of sin. Sooner or later, we suffer from our ridiculous, self–destructive choices. Then, like Saint Paul, we become upset with ourselves for continually giving in to Satan’s invitations to satisfy our self-defeating desires and harmful practices (Romans 7:15).
Thankfully, just as Satan has a nature that can only deliver death and pain, God has a nature that gives life and love (1 John 4:16).
It is not inevitable that we remain slaves to sin. In his love, God has provided a way to break sin’s hold on us. Our Lord always provides a means (1 Cor. 10:13) to defend ourselves from Satan’s relentless attacks. And as Pastor Scott suggested, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to shift from being caught in the sin cycle to claiming our God-given place in the faith cycle. With the eyes of faith, we can increasingly recognize Satan’s lies and empty promises.
Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25a).
