Snow is the ultimate deceiver.
Last weekend in our area we experienced the "blizzard" of 2016. It dumped several inches of the white stuff all over the place. Sadly, that included the roads which kept us stuck in the house for a few days and canceled church services all across the area. The kids got a very long weekend too. But now that everything has gotten back to normal and the grocery stores have gotten the milk and bread restocked I have gotten a chance to reflect on snow.
First of all I will admit I am not a huge snow fan. My favorite snow activity is making snow
cream. Other than that I can take or leave it. Now that some ice cream companies have started carrying snow cream flavored ice cream I don't even need snow for that. (I recommend Mayfield brand.) I don't mind snow except when it forces us to cancel church. That is what spurred my thoughts about snow today. I was looking over my notes for my sermon Sunday that was supposed to be my sermon last week and it hit me, snow is the ultimate deceiver.
How does snow deceive us? It deceives us with its beauty. When the ground begins to be covered and the snow keeps coming down it is a beautiful picture. Just knowing each flake is different than all the rest makes it exciting. When you look at fields, yards, and wooded areas where there has been nobody tracking through it you find a picture whose beauty can't be matched by a painting or a photograph. As it lays it promises to bring excitement with it. It gets your hope up for hours of sledding. The potential for the world's biggest snowman to be built in your yard grows with each falling flake. As the bowel collecting the snow is covered you can just taste the snow cream. I can even taste the chocolate syrup that will be added to it. That may be because sometimes I just pour chocolate syrup in my mouth. Don't tell my wife. The excitement of getting to stay home from work and school slowly creeps in our minds. What's not to like about snow? Well, that is the deception part.
What goes hand in hand with snow? Ice! What happens when you walk or drive on ice? You fall or slide. I watched a video on Facebook where it looked like a dozen vehicles tried to go up this hill in a town. Some never got close to the top while others did but in the end they all ended up in the same place, smashed together at the bottom. I will admit I also watch some of those videos of people
falling while trying to walk on ice and I laughed just like you do when you watch them. But snow doesn't tell you or remind you about the ice that is laying under it. Instead snow lets you find it when you fall or slide in a ditch. So there is danger under that beauty.
Snow doesn't tell you there will be work to do because of the snow. The snow shovel does that. My back hurts just thinking about it. In order to get out to play in the snow or to run to the store for an extra loaf of bread you have to clear the drive. To be safe from falls you have to shovel the walk ways. Snow looks lights and fluffy as it falls. It looks like a big pile of cotton while it is laying. Something happens when a shovel touches it. It some how becomes the heaviest substance in the world. Of course snow's best friend ice is mixed in too so now there is two heavy substances that you must shovel.
Snow doesn't show its price tag as it falls either. For the winter of 2013-2014 the state of North Carolina budgeted $40 million for snow removal but spent $60 million according to the Council of State Governments. That price tag doesn't include all the businesses, churches and medical facilities that have to pay to have their parking lot cleaned. Don't tell anyone who works for a power company you hope it snows a foot. They sometimes end up working 14-16 hour days for weeks without a day off trying to restore power and clean up the fallen lines and trees to prevent more power outages. That cost the power company more money than we care to think about. Plus somebody has to pay for all those crashed cars and broken bones. Which is made harder by the missed work.
What I have noticed about the beauty of snow is that as it melts away and exposes what is under it the beauty leaves. It turns to mud. Everywhere there is beautiful snow on top there is ugly mud under it. That beautiful field of snow becomes slushy mud. That hill you enjoyed sledding down now looks like a mudslide waiting to happen. Everybody likes to ride around looking at the snow but when it
turns your car black from the mud it isn't as fun washing it in frigid temperatures.
I know your tired of me ranting about snow but I am not really ranting. I am doing what preachers call, "setting you up". Snow uses beauty to deceive you just like SIN does.
"But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception." Hebrews 3:13 (HCSB)
Sin is a beautiful thing, on the outside. It is very enjoyable, for a moment. If it wasn't beautiful and enjoyable we wouldn't be tempted to commit it. If it was as enjoyable as hitting your little toe in the middle of the night on a table your wife put in the hall because it looks nice there then we could easily avoid it. The trouble is all we see is the beauty of sin. We don't see the consequences of sin which are always there.
"Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:7-8 (HCSB)
We will sow what we reap. Just like hitting that little toe on that table has consequences so does sin. The consequences of hitting that toe is pain, having to do the hurting toe dance quietly because you don't want to wake anyone up and maybe blood shed if you hit it right on the nail. Sound like the consequences of sin? There is pain knowing that your sin has separated you from God. You try to hide your sin because you don't want anyone to know what you did and there had to be blood shed to forgive you of your sins.
How do we avoid the consequences of sin? Don't commit it. Think about handling sin the same way you do snow. Know that it may be beautiful but there is danger all around it. You walk and drive on snow with caution trying to avoid the ice that will make you fall or slide. Watch yourself around sin. Know where temptation lies and avoid it. When you temptation smacks you in the face remember the scriptures tell us if we look toward God then He will show us a way out. Be prepared. For snow you that will keep you in for a couple of days you have to have 12 gallons of milk and 15 loaves of bread. You may also have flashlights, food on hand that don't need to be cooked, fresh water and extra clothes. You need to be prepared for sin also. You need to study God's word and make it a light for you path. You need to hide it in your heart so that you will not sin against it. When you are tempted you need to look toward God for a way out instead of giving in,. Snow is unavoidable when it comes, sin doesn't have to be.
Parting Thought: If you never felt pain, then how would you know that God is the Great Physician?
First of all I will admit I am not a huge snow fan. My favorite snow activity is making snow
How does snow deceive us? It deceives us with its beauty. When the ground begins to be covered and the snow keeps coming down it is a beautiful picture. Just knowing each flake is different than all the rest makes it exciting. When you look at fields, yards, and wooded areas where there has been nobody tracking through it you find a picture whose beauty can't be matched by a painting or a photograph. As it lays it promises to bring excitement with it. It gets your hope up for hours of sledding. The potential for the world's biggest snowman to be built in your yard grows with each falling flake. As the bowel collecting the snow is covered you can just taste the snow cream. I can even taste the chocolate syrup that will be added to it. That may be because sometimes I just pour chocolate syrup in my mouth. Don't tell my wife. The excitement of getting to stay home from work and school slowly creeps in our minds. What's not to like about snow? Well, that is the deception part.
What goes hand in hand with snow? Ice! What happens when you walk or drive on ice? You fall or slide. I watched a video on Facebook where it looked like a dozen vehicles tried to go up this hill in a town. Some never got close to the top while others did but in the end they all ended up in the same place, smashed together at the bottom. I will admit I also watch some of those videos of people
Snow doesn't tell you there will be work to do because of the snow. The snow shovel does that. My back hurts just thinking about it. In order to get out to play in the snow or to run to the store for an extra loaf of bread you have to clear the drive. To be safe from falls you have to shovel the walk ways. Snow looks lights and fluffy as it falls. It looks like a big pile of cotton while it is laying. Something happens when a shovel touches it. It some how becomes the heaviest substance in the world. Of course snow's best friend ice is mixed in too so now there is two heavy substances that you must shovel.
Snow doesn't show its price tag as it falls either. For the winter of 2013-2014 the state of North Carolina budgeted $40 million for snow removal but spent $60 million according to the Council of State Governments. That price tag doesn't include all the businesses, churches and medical facilities that have to pay to have their parking lot cleaned. Don't tell anyone who works for a power company you hope it snows a foot. They sometimes end up working 14-16 hour days for weeks without a day off trying to restore power and clean up the fallen lines and trees to prevent more power outages. That cost the power company more money than we care to think about. Plus somebody has to pay for all those crashed cars and broken bones. Which is made harder by the missed work.
What I have noticed about the beauty of snow is that as it melts away and exposes what is under it the beauty leaves. It turns to mud. Everywhere there is beautiful snow on top there is ugly mud under it. That beautiful field of snow becomes slushy mud. That hill you enjoyed sledding down now looks like a mudslide waiting to happen. Everybody likes to ride around looking at the snow but when it
I know your tired of me ranting about snow but I am not really ranting. I am doing what preachers call, "setting you up". Snow uses beauty to deceive you just like SIN does.
"But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception." Hebrews 3:13 (HCSB)
Sin is a beautiful thing, on the outside. It is very enjoyable, for a moment. If it wasn't beautiful and enjoyable we wouldn't be tempted to commit it. If it was as enjoyable as hitting your little toe in the middle of the night on a table your wife put in the hall because it looks nice there then we could easily avoid it. The trouble is all we see is the beauty of sin. We don't see the consequences of sin which are always there.
"Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:7-8 (HCSB)
We will sow what we reap. Just like hitting that little toe on that table has consequences so does sin. The consequences of hitting that toe is pain, having to do the hurting toe dance quietly because you don't want to wake anyone up and maybe blood shed if you hit it right on the nail. Sound like the consequences of sin? There is pain knowing that your sin has separated you from God. You try to hide your sin because you don't want anyone to know what you did and there had to be blood shed to forgive you of your sins.
How do we avoid the consequences of sin? Don't commit it. Think about handling sin the same way you do snow. Know that it may be beautiful but there is danger all around it. You walk and drive on snow with caution trying to avoid the ice that will make you fall or slide. Watch yourself around sin. Know where temptation lies and avoid it. When you temptation smacks you in the face remember the scriptures tell us if we look toward God then He will show us a way out. Be prepared. For snow you that will keep you in for a couple of days you have to have 12 gallons of milk and 15 loaves of bread. You may also have flashlights, food on hand that don't need to be cooked, fresh water and extra clothes. You need to be prepared for sin also. You need to study God's word and make it a light for you path. You need to hide it in your heart so that you will not sin against it. When you are tempted you need to look toward God for a way out instead of giving in,. Snow is unavoidable when it comes, sin doesn't have to be.
Parting Thought: If you never felt pain, then how would you know that God is the Great Physician?
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