Snakes are one of the most feared creatures in the world.
It’s not that snakes are particularly deadly. The majority are not venomous, and of the ones that are, their venom isn’t intended for mankind. It’s intended for much smaller prey.
Yet, we seem to have an innate fear of snakes, as if they have one goal, and one only, and that’s to attack us and possibly kill us.
Could it be racial memory, a fear that’s built into our very genes, one that we carry with us because of something that happened at the very beginning of creation?
We know the story in Genesis of Adam and Eve and the apple. The snake said, “Partake,” and they did, and God wasn’t happy.
So, why do we listen to the snakes today?
Matthew 12:34 says:
“You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
We are what comes out of our mouths. That’s not Name It, Claim It theology. It’s simply that if we think one way, it will eventually slip out in what we say. If we follow Christ, we will speak his peace to those around us. If we can’t speak the peace of Christ, then we’re speaking with someone else’s voice, and it’s not that of Jesus.
Now look at Matthew 23:33:
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?”
If our mouths speak our hearts, and our mouths cannot speak the truth of Jesus, we are no more than coiled vipers tumbling over one another, twisted in our sins, and headed for hell.
Who wants to be part of a hot mess of sin, of a pile of vile vipers that can’t speak peace, because we don’t have the peace of Christ inside?
Jesus is the example we are to follow. Only when we have him inside can we tumble out of the tangle that the world tries to keep us twisted in. Only with Jesus can our mouths always speak the truth of the Christ and his message given to us by his example on the cross.
When we speak, if we have Jesus, his truth will come out every time.
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Code: FGO.H.02.15.vp.esv