When I was young, my grandmother told me a story about a young boy and a snake. The boy’s mother gave him some milk with some cornbread mixed with it. Like he had done the last few times she fed him, he took his food and went outside.
When she decided to go out and see what he was doing, she found him sitting by the rock chimney feeding a snake. It scared her so bad that she grabbed her son and ran back into the house with him, and began checking him to see if he had been bitten. I don’t remember if there was a moral to the story, or if it was even true. My grandmother was part Native American, and she told us lots of stories from Native American culture as well as fairy tales, from children’s books.
There are many old Indian tales that are very interesting. Like the one about how snakes got their poison, and the one about how the world was created. I like the one about the two wolves living inside every person. It is a metaphor explaining the two natures that we all have. The good nature and the bad one. The moral of that story is that whichever one you feed will be the strongest.
This same idea can be found in the Bible. There, it refers to the old man of sin and the new man in Christ. Whichever one we feed will grow strong and thrive. There’s a good little kid's song that I learned very early in my childhood that came from that very idea. It says,
“Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.”
“Oh, be careful little ears what you hear.”
“For the Father up above is looking down in love.
So be careful little eyes what you see (hear).”
That’s a great little song with a great big message. We have to guard our minds and be careful about what we see and hear. That’s what God tells us throughout the Bible.
Proverbs 4:23 says, Guard your heart (mind) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
We have to be careful where we go, and what we say and do as well. Those are other lines in the song. 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says, Refrain from all forms of evil.
The first verse in the book of Job tells us that Job was a holy man that revered God and went out of his way to avoid evil. If we want to remain holy we have to do the same thing. We have to be careful where we go.
Both the song and the Bible also show us that we should watch what we say and do. This is very important. When I was a young Christian, I remember hearing a few older Christians cursing. I’ll never forget how shocked I was. I couldn’t believe a saved person would say things like that. Then I learned that many Christians don’t see anything wrong with it at all, but the Bible says they’re wrong.
2 Timothy 2:16
16 But shun profane and vain talking: for they will lead to more ungodliness.
Did you get that? Using profanity leads to ungodliness. People who want to be godly should avoid profanity. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Our words show what’s in our hearts. I know that to be true from my own personal experience.
James 1:26
26 If any of you think you are religious and don’t bridle your tongue, but you deceive your own heart, your religion is worthless.
“So be careful little (and big) lips what you say.”
Don’t be buddies with the snake. Feed the good wolf and avoid all evil like it’s the Plague, and grow more godly.
For an in-depth study of what God says about using profanity read What’s Wrong With Using Profanity?
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