Life Traps

Life is full of traps that do not look like traps. You are just going along, thinking how smart you are, and you find a very clever thing to do. Only when it’s too late do you see that it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Some people take poisons—like tobacco, or drugs, or liquor—into their bodies because it promises something good. They want to look “cool” and impress others, to feel stronger, or maybe to forget everything for a while. So a person tries it—a strong, healthy person, perhaps. Then they are enslaved. It was a trap. They can’t get out without help. They thought they could walk away any time they wanted to, but they can’t. They are trapped. They are scared. They wish so much that they had never tried it.

There are many other traps, too. There are thieves that wish they had never stolen. There are liars who wish they had always told the truth, no matter how much it stung. There are murders that wished they had never given into hate. There are people with broken marriages who wish they had never gone to a dance. There are children who wish they had wanted what was right, but they didn’t, and now sin is stinging them. Big, ugly, black sins that they didn’t think they would ever do. It’s killing them inside. They are trapped in the hole.

There is Someone who wants to rescue them, if they will call for help. Jesus laid down His own life to be stung by the awful penalty of sin—death. He is like the bee mask that covered the wasp nest. He makes it possible for people to escape the trap, if they would only “run for it,” like Scott did. How glad I am that I escaped and let Jesus rescue me!