KILL THE SPIDER

''And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,  and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell'' - Matthew  5:29

There is a story of a man who often goes to the altar at the end of every service to kneel and pray - ''Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life''. One day his pastor, tired of hearing the same old prayer, knelt beside him and prayed, ''Lord, kill the spider!''

A Nigerian proverb says ''Leprosy should not be left unattended to while attention is placed on treating ringworm''. This proverb simply warns against the risk of misplacing one's priority in life. It means there is a tendency for one to ignore the cause of his/her problem and then concentrate on treating the symptoms. This was exactly what the young man in the story above was doing. 

In the sermon on the mount, Our saviour emphasizes the need to identify the root cause of sin around us and then deal with it decisively. This is very crucial as it will be impossible to live a victorious Christian life if we ignore the spiders (root cause) and concentrate on treating the symptoms (cobwebs). We cannot substitute responsible Christian living with hypocritical prayers and fasting. Anyone who will make it to the city of gold must be a responsible believer who would not overlook anything that is capable to holding him/her down on the earth. 

In Job 31:1, the Bible says Job understood this salient truth and he decided to kill the spider of his lustful look and strange desire for anything in skirt. However, unlike Job, King David enjoyed the spider of pornography when nobody was around (2 Samuel 11). He was addicted to watching naked women taking their baths from his balcony. Unfortunately, that ungodly habit brought great pain and agony into his life and family (2 Samuel 12). Solomon could not resist the urge for strange women like his father. He packed them in hundreds and they eventually turned his heart away from following God (1 Kings 11:4). On the other hand, Daniel was able to tame his appetite for the king's delicacies and that made him to remain relevant in the office of the presidency for several years (Daniel 1:8-21). Can you imagine, Daniel and Job praying to God to help them remove cobwebs instead of killing those destructive spiders? It will definitely be a fruitless effort! 

Unfortunately, many people believe they can continue to fraternize with the spider of sin and expect God to rescue them from its consequences. They don't seem to understand that it is impossible to act irresponsibly in life and still escape being burnt (Proverbs 6:27-29). We should not expect God to remove the cobwebs around us when we deliberately refuse to deal with the spiders weaving those cobwebs. This is not wise at all!

Friends, are there some spiders of pornography and ungodly music on your phones or laptops that are weaving the cobwebs of judgment around you? Don't you think it is time to delete them? Are there some spiders of ungodly relationships in your life that are making you enjoy the pleasures of sin? Why not disconnect yourself from those spiders before they lead you to the slaughter's slab? Why not take that radical step today to free yourself from the wicked grips of those evil spiders? Why not kill the spiders of strange appetite for ungodly habits and illicit deals before it drags you to hell? Please do it today. Tomorrow may be too late.

One simple hymn that re-echoes that wise counsel of God to us in Matthew 5:29-30 is titled "NOTHING BETWEEN": 

NOTHING BETWEEN by Charles Albert Tindley, 2008   

Nothing between my soul and the Savior,

None of this world's delusions and dreams;

I have renounced all sin and its pleasures.

Jesus is mine. There's nothing between.

Refrain:

    Nothing between my soul and the Savior,

    So that His blessed face may be seen;

    Nothing preventing the flow of His favor,

    Keep the way clear. Let nothing between.

Nothing between, not life and its treasures;

Habits and hopes, though harmless they seem,

Must not distract from Jesus our Savior.

He is my joy. There's nothing between.

Nothing between through years and through trials;

Though trouble comes, my heart is serene,

Nearing the day I stand in His beauty,

One with my Lord and nothing between.

May we receive grace to truly kill the spider so that there will be nothing between us and our saviour that can make us miss the rapture of the saints from this world.

Good day and God bless you. 

Maranatha!

Bro. Okanlawon Taiwo

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