Snakes are a boogie man to me! You remember the boogie man don't you? He's the fearsome creature who lives under your bed at night. Smart kids never in my day allowed arms to dangle off the safety of the bed. The boogie man was apt to grab that arm and pull a child under, never to be heard from again! Snakes are my boogie man!
That is ironic because the serpent back in the Garden of Eden was symbolic of the devil. When I am surprised by my own fear of the snake, it's really fear itself which I fear! As the snake slithers silently even today, I'm reminded of the deception of the serpent. He uses words of stealth to deceive. About the time a person is comfortable in life, the serpent slithers in and creates havoc. That's what snakes do!
Matthew 12:33 " "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things."Again, even in the New Testament, we detect the serpent still in his tree! I've written before of the fruit of "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". I've written of its endless "bad" fruit, but in that tree also hung good fruit. There were twelve "good fruits" on "The Tree of Life" and since "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" represented "choice" and "free will", good fruit hung on it as well. The serpent was right there on the tree. The task Satan assigned to that demon was to deceive: "The 'Tree of Life' has all good fruit, but on this tree have both good and bad. Take your chances that it will be the 'good" fruit you take, but there are numerous 'bad' fruits!" The serpent failed to tell Adam and Eve they were gambling their very soul to the devil! That's the slithering of this particular snake!
God warned, not against abandoning him, but neglecting him for other gods. He didn't want to share reverence and adoration with any other god. The god who was the biggest threat was "the flesh"... Adam and Eve and now us! We are "the generation of vipers". It's us who are the snakes. From the passages above we can still chance on eating of the wrong fruit from the wrong tree or eliminating any chance and eating only of "The Tree of Life" who is Jesus Christ! Of which tree whose fruit we have eaten can be discerned by the works we do!
If we eat truly of the fruit of "The Tree of Life" it's good fruit (or good works) which we display. If we are tricked into eating of the wrong tree, we are of this generation of vipers as was the serpent in the days of Adam. Nothing has changed over time. There are always snakes slithering around all the time, deceiving us. It's really this snake which I fear more than the crawling reptile hiding in the bushes (and sometimes even under my bed)!
My fear of snakes are of being bitten. At most I may be poisoned for which there is an antidote. At the minimum my heart will thump with fear. This dread of the snake's poison brought me to Christ because he is the antidote. His blood can cleanse the poison of sin from my veins! That's what he did after the serpent bit Adam and Eve and he still does that. I'm of a long line in the generation of vipers and the cure has always been the same!
I don't want to live a life wondering of the venom is still within me. I want to know that I am alive and out of danger of the second death. It's by my fruit that is presented in self-sacrifice to God that I can tell. If I claim to be of Jesus, but fail to bear any fruit of "The Tree of Life" it's the fruit of vipers which I bear.
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