Go tell it on the mountain

The other night I was watching the Discovery channel and saw an anaconda, (world’s largest snake), catch a small deer and wrap itself around the deer and suffocate it and then eat it. Although the deer’s body was much larger than the snake’s head and particularly its mouth, it was still able to get the deer into its mouth and swallow it. Apparently the snake’s mouth can come unhinged and can gape open very wide. The snake swallowed the deer and the large lump of the deer could be seen as it went down the inside of the snake.

I came up to Atlanta yesterday on a small regional jet. My wife and I sat across the aisle from each other. After about forty-five minutes into the flight I looked over at her and was aghast. Her head was tilted straight back and her mouth was gaping wide open in similar fashion to the anaconda. Her mouth was open so wide it looked as though it had come unhinged. She had been complaining about being cold on the plane and had placed her arms inside her shirt to keep warm. To a passerby she appeared not to have any arms and with her arms stuffed inside her shirt, her body looked contorted and looked hauntingly familiar to the anaconda that had eaten the deer.

My first inclination was to wake her up as she looked quite ridiculous; however I did not want to call attention to her on the crowded plane and with her mouth gaping wide open in her anaconda imitation I really did not want anyone to know that I was with her either. I just looked the other way and out the window. In a few minutes she came to and closed her mouth.

After we landed I related to her what had happened and asked her what possessed her to put her arms inside her shirt. She just laughed and said she had put her arms under her shirt because she was freezing. I thought about this and had the situation been reversed I would have wanted someone to wake me up and I’m sure she feels likewise. I did not because I was sensitive to what others might think.

Hmmm That is so unlike me. It seems odd to me that I would even entertain such thoughts as I generally could care less what others think, especially complete strangers whom I will likely never see again. My wife is my best friend, I love her with all my heart, and we have been married 37 years. Why would I not rescue her from an embarrassing situation and try to pretend that I was not with her, even for a brief period of time? I’m not sure there is a good answer to this.

Many people act similarly when it comes to Jesus Christ. On the one hand they love Him with all of their heart, but act weird and very uncomfortable if His name is mentioned in public, especially when they are around non-Christians. As uncomfortable as you might feel about professing your faith to others, you should do it anyway because the Bible commands us to do so.

Your faith in the Lord is not just something that is “private” and “personal” and is just between you and the Lord as many seem to think. We are instructed in no uncertain terms to tell others about our faith, plain and simple. This is a dangerous position to be in when it comes to our Lord. The Bible is clear about this point with Jesus Himself stating that we should not deny Him before others; we must confess Christ before men, or face the possibility that He will deny us to our Father in heaven at the judgment. Think about it

Matt. 10:32
Therefore whoever confesses
Me before men, him I will also confess
before My Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies me before
men, him I will also deny before My
Father who is in heaven.