Several
years ago, a young girl wrote in to the Ann Landers advice column that was in
her local newspaper with the following question:
“Dear Ann, I
am a 13 year old girl who is tired of getting yelled at by my parents all of
the time. All I hear from morning until
night is, ‘Clean up your room! Pick up
your clothes! Do your homework! Finish your chores!’ How can I get them off my back? Signed, Sick of Parents.”
Ann Landers
wisely responded in this way:
“Dear Sick,
You want to get your parents off of your back?
It’s easy…clean up your room; pick up your clothes, do your homework and
finish your chores!”
Why is it
that so many of us struggle with being obedient and hating sin in our
lives? I think that one of the main
reasons is due to the fact that we do not understand how hunters catch
monkeys. In some regions monkeys are
considered a delicacy and hunting for monkeys is an art. Here is what they do. The take a coconut and cut a hole in the end
of it that is just big enough for a monkey to get its finger and thumb into it,
but if he grabs a piece of the coconut inside, he cannot get his finger and
thumb back out again. They then tie a
coconut to a stake, pound the stake into the ground, and then they go wait in
the bushes.
Sure enough,
a monkey ultimately comes along. He
picks up the coconut and puts his finger and thumb inside the hole, grabbing a
piece of the fruit inside. Try as he
might, the monkey cannot get his finger and thumb back out. He shakes the coconut trying to free it from
the stake. Meanwhile, out of the bushes
come the hunters with their knives, spears, tanks and bazookas. The monkey sees them coming. He knows he is in danger. The monkey knows that all that he has to do
is let go of the piece of coconut inside and scram. But instead, the monkey becomes monkey stew.
Such is the
case with many Christians. We have
coconuts in our lives. These are sins
that we know are displeasing to God. We
know that they are causing us harm. Yet,
we won’t give up the coconuts. What does
it mean to hate and forsake sin in our lives?
It means to take the coconuts that we are hanging on to and to throw
them as far away from us as we possibly can.
So tell me,
is it true in your life? Are there any
coconuts in your life that it’s time to get rid of? Are there any secret sins that you have been
holding on to for far too long? How true
are the words of the Psalmist when he writes, “Blessed is he whose
transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does
not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit” (Psalm
32:1-2). Maybe it’s time to clean up the
room, pick up the clothes, do the homework, and finish the chores.
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