CONTENTS

Work Was needing to be done on our house a few years ago – things like wallpapering on the inside, and on the outside painting and replacing some rotting weatherboards. With all such jobs, it was a good feeling when it was finally done.

While replacing some rotting timber, I was fascinated to see an insect get itself tangled in a spider’s web. The unsuspecting creature just walked into the web, got its front legs caught, and in its struggle to get free, finished up hopelessly entangled. A few seconds later, out came a rather large spider and injected his poisonous fangs into his struggling victim. Then he moved away to watch the doomed insect’s death throes as the deadly poison did its work. Then he moved in again and dragged the insect off to his lair.

It occurred to me that it must be a terrifying experience to be an insect and to get caught in a spider’s web, and then to see a great hairy monster bearing down on you with the intention of having you for lunch! I was struck by the hopelessness of the creature’s predicament – the more it struggled, the more tangled up it became with less chance of escaping.

But if we are not careful we can find ourselves in a similar position to that unfortunate insect. We can get caught in the web of sinful habits and lifestyles. The Bible says in James chapter 1, verses 14-15, “Each one is tempted when by his/her own evil desire, he/she is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”.

It is all too easy to allow evil desires and habits -- drugs, alcohol, wrong sex -- to grow in our lives. Evil thoughts become evil actions, and eventually take over our lives and destroy us. Like the spider’s web, sin is easy to get into, but it’s not easy to get out of. The more we struggle, the more we become ensnared.

That bug could have been saved, but not by itself. I could have rescued it by freeing it from the web before the spider got to him. (In fact, when I told my wife about it later, she thought it was “pretty mean of me” not to have rescued it).

Like that insect, we cannot free ourselves from the web of sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ can set us free and make our lives clean and purposeful. Through His coming into the world and His death on the cross at Calvary, He has taken our punishment and defeated the enemy, Satan. He can now free us from the web of sin and because of His resurrection can also rescue us from the great “spider” of eternal death. Now He is exalted to the highest place in Heaven. If we pray to Him seeking His forgiveness, He will cleanse us from all sin, break its power over us, and make us fit for Heaven. -- Editor