This MAY, watch out for snakes! Not just in the forest.
Dear Friends,
Most golfers who play forest courses around the south coast are normally reminded that May is the month in which the Adder, the only venomous snake native to Britain, having come out of hibernation and looking to mate is probably more aggressive than it normally would be at any other time outside of being trodden on. Adders will only use their venom as a last means of defence, and no one has died from an adder bite in Britain for over 20 years. With proper treatment, the worst effects are nausea and drowsiness, followed by severe swelling and bruising in the area of the bite and if bitten the advice is stay still and use a tourniquet to stop the poison from spreading. I hope I never need to use one after a snake bite, but once in a while it can take a human tourniquet to stop the venom that does so much damage to human relationships and Christian fellowship.
God really does not like poison circulating in His body and among His people the Church. For instance (Numbers 12:1) tells us that, “Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses. At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, ‘Come out to the tent of meeting all three of you.'” It doesn’t sound like He wants to commend them does it? “So the three of them came out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. The anger of the Lord burned against them.” Why? Because the Lord heard them criticizing. He heard the backstabbing. Moses didn’t, God did. He heard the poison and it angered Him. And God still hears it today when you and I say it. He still feels the same way about it. God wants us to surgically remove all the stuff that produces poison between His people.
It is one reason we are instructed in Colossians 3:5 to “Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Negative talk can do great damage. It is a poison that can lessen spiritual enthusiasm; dilute commitment and slow church growth. Not enough people are there who are willing to be human tourniquets; people who will stop the poison from spreading to another person. It’s okay to have frustrations with somebody as long as you take them straight to God and, if necessary, straight to that person. Everything else is sin and it angers God.
Right now, maybe there is inside of us the beginnings of anger? Some things we feel we need to confront? Maybe our wounds or hurt. That’s okay if we take it straight to God and then again straight to the person involved. But see, the poison starts to spread when we start to go to other people. When we’re criticizing, complaining and tearing down, it is poison. And when there’s poison on the loose, a tourniquet is desperately needed to stop it. Is it possible that on our FRONTLINE in our home, where we go to work, where we live, where we play, where we go to church, it is US who just simply refuses to listen to the poison talk going around? Directing the poison-spreader instead to the person they should be talking to?
God hates poison in His body. He loves the person who commits himself or herself to stopping the poison.
This MAY, watch out for snakes! Not just in the forest.
Your Friend and Pastor
Shaun