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Pointers along the way #64

Curiosity can kill
- Jacob Ninan

Curiosity can be a good thing. We can see that intelligent children show a lot of curiosity about the world around them, and they are always exploring and making new discoveries. Curiosity drives us to seek for more knowledge and understanding as we wonder about the how and why of people and things. But an undisciplined and unrestrained curiosity is a major tool in the hands of the devil to lead us into many temptations.

When children begin to explore things, they have no idea about what is good and bad for them. They touch, pull, push, grab and put into their mouths whatever they find. Parents usually have a tough time protecting them from things that can harm them. They try to keep certain things out of the children's reach, and teach the children not to do many, many things. "No", and "Don't" become some of the most used words for the parents at this time.

When we are spiritually babies, it seems as though all that God tells us is "No" and "Don't". But when we grow and become more mature we realise that when God tells us "No", it is to protect us from some harm.

But it is not always easy to remember that when we are tempted by something through our curiosity. We like to explore new experiences, see new things, feel new thrills and try out new fads. "Just try it once" is what the devil and some of our friends tell us. We think we can just enjoy something for a fleeting moment and then decide not to do it again. But it doesn't work that way.

Eating forbidden fruit always brings us 'death' (Ge.2:16,17). Something dies in our spirit when we disobey God. We lose touch with God, a sense of defeat, shame and guilt comes in, and we become a little distant from other people (Ge.3:7-10).

We can't flirt with sin and get away free. We lose out. We may be lured by the momentary thrills that wait for us. But there is always a hangover! Life becomes more complicated every time we yield to sin.

Let us not imagine that we are strong enough to quit after we have tried our hand at some new pleasure. Countless number of people in hell and on earth can tell us how they got tricked into a miserable bondage of habits and life changing decisions because they did not contain their curiosity. Let us be among the others who realised their danger and clung on to God for safety.

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