The Snare of Sin

Saturday, I spotted a something out of the ordinary on my neighbor's property.  A deer that had its back leg caught on the top of a chain link fence.  From the appearance of it, she had been caught for awhile and looked dead.  My neighbor is in her late 80's and so I knocked on her door to let her know that I was going to remove the dead deer before it started stinking.  I grabbed some rope and tin snips and proceeded with plans to free the dead deer and bury it with a backhoe in the adjacent field.  

When I poked the deer with a stick, SHE MOVED!  I thought it was a reflex, but she was still alive!  I cut her leg free, hoping she would run away ( I backed up a good distance because I've seen too many "when animals attack" videos).  She didn't move.  I tried several times to get her to move, but she refused.  Thinking she was just tired from her struggle,  I decided to leave her in hopes she would rest and later run away.  She never moved and eventually died.  

I thought about how that deer, who once was free, died from getting such a small part of her body entangled.  If I had been there sooner, maybe she could have recovered and gone free, but who knows.  

That's how sin snares us.  It could be a "small" sin that affects (we may think) only a small part of us.  The truth is that it affects our whole person and eventually leads to spiritual death.  The Bible says "By transgression an evil man is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices. Proverbs 29:6"  Sin ensnares our whole lives.  Like the deer, I know some who have struggled for a long time on their own hoping to break free from the power of sin.  They need someone to cut them free.  They need a Savior.  

There is no small sin.  Sin is sin.  It doesn't just affect a small part of us, but all of us.  Sin affects our eternity!  Left unconfessed and unchallenged, it leads to eternal separation from God.

A liberating verse is Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  It was too late for the deer, but never too late for us.  Some stop at the first part of that verse thinking they are too far gone for God to rescue.  But the last part of the verse frees us from sin's enslavement.  Jesus' sacrifice frees even the worst of sinners.  In fact, we all have sinned and need a Savior.  (Romans 3:23)  

If you are entangled in sin and think you have no hope of escape, I pray you'll let Christ set you free from the sin that has ensnared you.  I pray you'll give your life to Christ and accept God's free gift of eternal life in Jesus our Lord.  Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrated His love for us in this way: while were were still sinners, Christ died for us."