Scott and Dave were walking in town one fall day. Scott, who loved biology and was always noticing the plant and animal life around him, suddenly stopped. Something was moving under a bush they were passing.
Both boys were soon bent over, looking with interest. What they found was a garter snake which had gotten caught in the pull-ring from a pop can. The snake must have been poking through the leaves and litter that had collected in that spot. Somehow it had gotten its head through the pull-ring and crawled forward, passing through the ring until it had tightened around the thicker part of its body . . . and there the ring stayed. Since snakes have backward-pointing scales on their bodies, there was no way it could have backed up to slide back out of the ring. As they watched, the snake twisted and turned, trying to get rid of the ring around its middle. But nothing worked.
You and I have a serious problem that we can’t get rid of either. It’s the problem of our sins. We have ways of trying to improve ourselves, but they don’t last, and they don’t work. Our sins are still there. We have something in common with the poor snake in our story.
There aren’t too many of us who would do what Scott decided to do. Most of us shudder at the thought of snakes, let alone picking one up! But Scott loved all the creatures of nature and felt so sorry for the garter snake that he quickly and gently picked up the twisting creature and sat down on the ground to figure out how he could get the ring off.
Scott gently smoothed the snake’s body. Then an amazing thing happened. The snake completely relaxed in his hands so that he could smooth out its scales enough for Dave to slide the ring gently forward . . . until it slid right over the snake’s head and was off! The snake lay in Scott’s lap for about five minutes moving just a little, perhaps testing to be sure the ring was gone. Then it slithered across his lap, lowered itself to the ground and soon disappeared through the leaves.
Most of us would shrink back from picking up a snake to help it. But Scott had learned a lot about snakes and how much good they do for us by eating mice and rats and other pests. He cared enough for that poor snake to do what he could to save it from that ring. The ring probably would have strangled the snake eventually.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew all about the problem of our sins. He also knew that it would be impossible for us to get rid of them by ourselves. Even though He hates sin, He loves and cares for you and me so much that He willingly suffered and died on Calvary’s cross to bear the punishment we deserve. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3)).
If you will stop struggling with your “ring of sin” and accept His loving offer of salvation, He will gladly remove your sins for you and set you free forever. I let Him remove my sins and now I am free! How about you?
ML-11/05/1995