The Indian Baby and the Snake
In India, there was a girl whose parents are Christians. Once they were, as thousands still are in that country, worshipers of idols, but they heard of Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners, and believing on Him, they were saved.
Their little baby-girl, who was not yet able to walk, had crept from the door into the yard, and had been amusing herself there for some time. When the mother looked out, she saw to her horror, that the child had hold of a snake. What was she to do? if she ran forward to grasp it, it would assuredly bite the child, and its bite would be death. She knelt down and prayed to God for deliverance. As she rose from prayer, a tame cat came into the yard, and the child seeing “pussy,” threw away the snake, quite unhurt, and began to stroke the cat.
This story of the Indian child has its lessons for boys and girls everywhere. Sin is like that poisonous snake, it will bite at the end.
“Sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:1515Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15). But when Christ is received into the heart, sin loses its power to fascinate. The heart has got something better, pleasures that leave no sting, that do not wither, even pleasures for evermore. If you do not know Jesus, you have not yet known what true pleasure is.
The mother at once seized her child, and hurried from the place of danger, with tears of gratitude filling her eyes. The dear child was delivered by the attractive power of something else. She let go the deadly snake when a new object met her eye and filled her hand. The snake ceased to charm; it had lost its power.
ML 01/15/1939