Stay Out Of The Woods! (Part 3)
“But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.” Romans 6:2
Why are people attracted to the woods? It’s because the woods are beautiful. Millions of people visit national forests because they’re beautiful, but there’s danger in those woods. Sin is beautiful. Sin is attractive. Sin is not an ugly thing at first. Satan will show you his penthouse; he’ll never show you his pigpen. He’ll show you his rookies but never his veterans who have been sinning for a long time because they are all messed up from sin.
When Eskimos in Alaska want to capture wolves, they have an interesting way of doing it. They’ll take a sharp knife and dip it in seal’s blood, one of the wolves' favorite meals. Then they will let it dry in the frigid air and dip it again and again until the blood starts to get thicker and thicker. They will repeat this until they make a seal’s blood Popsicle that is so thick with ice blood, that it hides the sharp blade on the inside. Next they will stick the knife down in the snow because they know that the wolf will come running. The wolf will begin to lick the blade and, oh, he loves what he’s tasting. It’s his favorite meal. But there comes a point where he cannot discern the difference between the taste of the seal’s blood and his own. And he eventually shreds his tongue to pieces and after a while his strength begins to drain. Little by little, that which was enjoyable begins to kill him.
And that is exactly what sin does. Nobody gets away with playing with sin. Sin hurts, destroys, and brings heartbreak every time. In the story in 2 Samuel 18, the woods killed more soldiers than the sword. Watching young, church-raised kids go off to college and disappear in the woods is heartbreaking. Many young people think they can hang out in the woods for a season with no consequences but many times they don’t make it back. Sin takes over their lives and they forget about God and his plan for their lives.
See, the point is this: It’s easier to get into the woods than it is to get out of the woods. It’s easier to get on drugs than it is to get off of drugs. It’s easier to get into sex than it is to deal with all of the ramifications of sex. Sin is like a spider’s web. The more you try to get loose, the more tangled you get, and before you know it, even though you know the way back to God, you’re so bound up in the woods you can’t get free.
Stay out of the woods!
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