A few years ago there was a fascinating but rather unpleasant story. It had all the qualities of a good mystery. A frantic 911 call brought police to a home. The caller had only been able to communicate that she needed help and was being killed. When police arrived, they found a bloody knife beside her lifeless body on the kitchen floor. Blood was spattered across the room, yet upon examining the body they did not find a single cut or puncture wound … [but] they noticed a trail of blood leading into the next room and followed it. Entering the room they found a large dying boa constrictor.

Apparently the snake had been raised as a pet but on this day the snake had wrapped itself around the woman as she was cooking in the kitchen. For whatever reason, she had allowed the snake to entwine her body in its coils and once it began to constrict its muscular body around her she sensed the danger. In a panic she grabbed a knife and began to slash away at the snake and, while managing to mortally wound it, she was killed herself in the process.

This tragic story is a vivid example of the power of sin in our lives. We often take subtle compromises into our lives as an innocent pet, thinking we can handle them without any real risk, and thus deal with sin flippantly, all the while placing ourselves in great danger.