The Rope and the Elephant

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There once was a small baby elephant that was captured by a a pair of men. The men then sold the elephant to a traveling circus, where they tied the baby elephant with a small rope to a small stake. At first the little elephant would pull at the rope and try to get away, but as the weeks went on the little elephant realized the rope was stronger then it and eventually stopped struggling against it.
As the years went on and the baby elephant grew bit by bit, he was still tied with the same little rope to a stake. He would pull against it, but the minute he felt the little tug of the rope he would stop. He remembered when he was smaller that that same rope had held him back and was stronger then him.. so he gave up when he felt it. When the baby elephant was large enough to start performing, the trainers began to whip it and beat the elephant till it would perform properly and to their acts.
  The Elephant so full of power and the strength it needed to break the little rope that had him tied down, couldn't. Because it's memories of the past haunted him and held him back. He would feel the tug and give up... cause all these years he had it stuck in his mind that the rope was stronger than him.. so the elephant was trapped performing in the circus..

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An Elephants memory is so good that they say one little detail about something will stick with an elephant for the rest of his life. The scenario up there actually is true, many elephants back in the 1900's in circus' and Traveling Carnivals were held in that very way. A small rope or chain

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Sad isn't it? The Elephant could so easily break the rope that holds him back.. but he doesn't because of what his memories of the past and his fears are.

And yet, that is exactly where many Christians and Unbelievers are today! We are held back by that one little sin that acts as a rope holding us back from the freedom that God has in store for us. But we feel the tug of that sin, and we fall into the lie that that sin still has hold over us and can stop us. So we don't get to enjoy God's full gift to us. 

The Bible has so many verses encouraging us that we can get away from the grip of sin and that it no longer holds sway over us once we accept Christ as our Savior.

The Bible says in Romans 6:12 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."

And then in Verse 14 "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

We are called to throw it off of us!! He tells us right there that sin is no longer our master! We don't have to allow that one little thing to hold us back.

So how are we to hold the sin at bay? To keep us from getting stuck back in that trap? As you've probably noticed a lot of my blogs seem to have a repeating theme in this area. You have to be reading your Bible and making efforts to grow in your faith!

In 2 Peter it gives you some instructions about this kind of thing.

"Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 Peter 1:4

So right there he has told us that he has provided us a way to escape the evil in the world. Look in the next several passages and he outlines the way in which you can avoid this evil.

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness,  love. For if  you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from  being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8

"For if you possess these qualities, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive." So those are the qualities that we are to be working on and improving in ourselves to help keep ourselves from the trap of the evils of this world. And take a look at the next verse right after that last one.

"But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."  2 Peter 1:9

Well there you have it. If you don't work on those qualities then you are doomed to be just like that Elephant. You forget that you have the power to break the little rope, but you are trapped forgetting that God has given you that power and that you could break it so easily.

God tells us in his Word that he has given us the ability to get out of sin and to avoid the temptations that come our way.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he wil not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

We have the strength, and we have God's promises. We have the ability to break the ropes. Don't let your past sin hold you back from what God has in store for you in the now.

God Bless,

    Ryan