Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 23:33 (New International Version)

Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

God is speaking to His people as they are freed from Egypt and journeying to the land He promised them. He first tells them that He will drive out the people who now live in the land. Then He tells them the words in this verse. He chides:

Don’t live next to them. Don’t watch them worship their Gods. Their worship will be a snare to you.

One definition of “snare” that I found this morning is:

Something that serves to entangle the unwary.

A couple of points. First, as followers of Christ today, Christians are not encouraged to drive out from among us those who do not yet follow Christ. Where would we live? How would we drive out people? How would we show them the love of Christ if we drove them away? No, we live among people who have yet to commit to following Christ.

Second, as we live among people who don’t yet follow Christ, is their worship still a snare to us? I think it can be. People who don’t yet follow Christ worship things like money, power, sex, drugs, hatred, and the list goes on.

I have seen unwary Christians entangled by a few of these things. I have stepped into the snare too many times myself.

The things that the world worships are all around us. These things are near because the world enjoys them so much, so why not keep them near and easy to grasp? These are still snares to us. I thank God for his assistance in helping me be wary of the snares and avoid them. I also thank God for His grace,  forgiveness, and assistance in extricating myself from the snares when I entangle myself in them.