This past Sunday, my pastor used a great illustration in his sermon. He described how they catch monkeys in India. Now hold on... let me explain here. He said that the trapper will hollow out a gourd and fill it with rice. Then, he will make a small hole in the middle of the gourd, just large enough for a monkey’s paw to slip through. He’ll tie that gourd to a tree and then... wait. Sooner or later a monkey will wander along and sniff that fragrant rice. He’ll hop up to the gourd, he’ll examine it, and he’ll see that there is rice inside, and he will stick his greedy little hand in to grab as much as he can. Then along comes the trapper -- panicking, the monkey pulls and tugs to get his hand out of that gourd, but he’s stuck. The trapper then sneaks up and throws a net over monkey and the gourd. And the game is over.
Now, you may have heard this illustration before. And to be honest, I once heard long ago, too. But for some reason, this time it struck me anew, especially as our pastor drew a parallel to Galatians 5:1 where it says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Do you get the connection there?
The monkey had the bounty of the entire jungle to pick from—bananas, fragrant fruit, you name it, nuts, but no, the monkey was dead set on getting something that he wanted, right then, right now, with nary a thought of all the other fruit and food all around him in the jungle -- no, he wanted that little handful of rice right now, even if it meant his freedom.
I tell you what, that is me! Isn’t it you? We have been set free. Every spiritual blessing is ours; the word of God assures us that. We have the Lord of the universe promising to meet each and every one of our needs. All things are ours, for we are in Christ and Christ is of God. We are joint heirs with the Lord... and he has graciously given us all things, lavished on us every spiritual gift in the jungle, every grace upon grace. We have all the food and fruit and nuts. We have the bounty of the entire kingdom of God all around us.
But no; we are so stubborn; we are dead set on getting what we want, right now, with nary a thought to all the gifts God has already generously given. We want that “little bit of rice” – that little daydream, that little illicit friendship, the little pleasure of that little bit of flirting, or... that little extra piece of cake or bowl of ice cream, that extra credit card – whatever that little bit of rice that seems most fragrant to you. We want it now, even if it means enslavement, even if it results in no longer being free from sin.
Hey, friend, quit monkeying around! Galatians 5 reminds you and I of the enormous price Jesus paid to set us free. So... stand firm. Stand firm in the faith. In other words, “the rice ain’t worth it... let it go.”
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