The Beautiful Snakes

Last week, I was talking with pastor Steve Ayers at our mother church, Hillvue Heights, and he began to tell me of the time that Hillvue experienced SIGNIFICANT growth and began making waves in church circles. Because of the attention the church began to receive (both locally and nationally), three entities presented themselves in hopes of financially partnering with the church in some way. Needless to say, the offers were lucrative and substantial.

As he began entertaining the offers, Steve tells of a lady in the church, whom he had a high level of trust, that came in his office one day. She advised him that God told her there were three opportunities present for the church. Then she looked him in the eye and said, "Beware the beautiful snakes."

I'm not a fan of snakes. AT ALL. But I must admit that they can be absolutely stunning in their beauty. Like these:

Notice the amazing and vibrant colors...like they were created on an artist's canvas. Beautiful.

Funny thing...us humans are drawn to beauty like a moth to a flame. And Satan knows it.

I've often wondered about the snake in the Garden of Eden. He had to be beautiful; probably more beautiful than all these snakes combined. I'm sure he was an incredible sight to behold, splendid in his presentation; at the sight of him, I'm willing to bet that Eve was left breathless at his beauty.

But he was still a snake.

Their bites are deadly. They carry poison. They are designed to kill. They shed their skin many times during the course of their lives. They are designed to preserve themselves at all costs. They can eat things larger than themselves. They are cold-blooded. They slither on the ground, looking for their prey. The snake in the garden had all these characteristics, and one more.

He could talk.

From time to time, we will encounter snakes in our lives. We will be drawn in by their beauty; deceived because everything looks appealing on the outside. We will be drawn in by their forked tongues - tongues that speak what we want to hear on one side but utter words of death and destruction on the other. But snakes are meat eaters, and they must eat. They won't be able to exist in any situation very long without biting and injecting their poison.

The way to combat snakes in our lives is through prayer. Ask God to reveal to us the snakes in our lives, both internally and externally. Then ask Him to remove them, and to do whatever it takes to do so. We have not been given a spirit of fear - don't fear anything in Christ.  But be wary, watchful, wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

Beware the beautiful snakes.