Beni Walchli, our friend from Switzerland shared a devotional about an interesting story on how to catch a monkey in Africa. He said hunters in Africa make a hole on a trunk of a tree or a hardened clay as in the video below. The hole is just large enough for a monkey to insert its hand then put nuts or some fruit inside where a monkey can see these baits. The monkey inserts its hand through the hole to get the food but it cannot get its hand back out when it grabs the bait. As long as the monkey’s hand holding the treat, the primate would be stuck on the tree. Because the monkey will not let go of its prize, it becomes trapped. The animal gives up its freedom, not willing to let go and escape while holding its prized possession. The monkey is acting out of instinct and it probably doesn’t have the ability to recognize the danger of falling into a trap. But of course, humans should be able to avoid falling into such a trap. We should be able to recognize and understand the danger of holding to things that can hurt us, or render us ineffective, stale or stagnant in our growth. Beni W. challenged us that sometimes we cannot obey the Lord’s command because we are caught up or absorbed in many things – materials or not. Some areas in our life we cannot surrender. Maybe this part is okay for the Lord to have but the other parts are mine. We go to a full day concert or football but gripe with the one or 1-1/2 hour church service. We spend hundreds of dollar in shopping yet regret the 10 or 20 bucks on the offering. Sometimes most of the traps in life are those we create ourselves. We hold on to things that don’t serve us well. We hold on to grudges. We hold on to past mistakes; we cling to the privilege of being right; we won’t let go of anger and resentment, we just can’t forgive. So we tend to eat a lot when stressed, then later become obese, diabetic or with high blood pressure. Some of us are attached to material things that are of little value; and oftentimes we put our attachment to possessions ahead of our own well-being. We just can’t let go of things.. Not realizing that our relationships with people are more important than things. Let us examine those things that we treasure or they might become a trap that hinders our spiritual growth. ruddyancheta/
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:31:23 +0000
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