Dragons

Last night, I had the opportunity to watch a new series on the Discovery Channel called Life.  It is an eleven part event, detailing multiple aspects of life all around the globe.  Apart from Oprah Winfrey narrating and the evolutionistic agenda therein, the program was pretty remarkable.

One of the most memorable facets of the show last night was the footage of a Komodo Dragon stalking a Water Buffalo.  Prior to this documentary, a Komodo Dragon had never been filmed stalking it's prey.

Komodo Dragons, some say, are a distant relative to Dinosaurs.  They are basically giant lizards that grow to about 150 pounds.  Perhaps the most amazing thing about the reptile is that it can actually kill and devour a mammal.  They smell with their tongues and can track their prey up to 2 and a half miles away.  Last night, that is exactly what one Komodo Dragon did.

It is difficult to believe that a lizard can actually take down a Buffalo, but it happened, and apparently happens often.  Last night, the Dragon bit the unsuspecting Buffalo, and then stalked it as it's venom surged through the Buffalo's veins.  It took three weeks before the Buffalo fell, and by the time he did, at least ten other Komodo Dragon's were waiting in the shadows to devour the animal.  It was a very eerie scene to observe, one that initiated me to consider how sin often works in our lives.

The author of Hebrews wrote, "let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us" (Hebrews 12:1).

Sin has a way of nagging at the soul the way the Komodo Dragon's venom nagged at the Water Buffalo.  The venom was poisonous in a way that caused the bite wound to fester, as opposed to clotting.  It was a slow, patient process, but eventually, it was deadly.  In essence, the wound was an encumbrance to the Buffalo, entangling his ability to press on.

Thankfully, the author of Hebrews didn't stop with the entanglement of sin.  He gave us a vaccination, of sorts, for the venom of sin.  He first describes a "great cloud of witnesses."  These are the men whom he spent all of chapter 11 talking about.  Men such as Noah, Abraham, and Moses.  Second, he points us to Jesus Christ.  He writes, "and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3).

I am so thankful not only for the men of old who I can look to for inspiration, but for Jesus Christ.  My sin has been forgiven and it no longer has the effects that it had in my previous life.