While working in my shop last week, a story came to mind that I had heard years ago. Like other times in the past, throughout the week, I heard other, seemingly unrelated messages or quotes that melded together into a coherent message that I believe God wanted me to understand and to share... so... here goes...
In certain regions, such as in Southeast Asia, monkeys are considered to be pests, as they tend to create a great deal havoc in towns. Hunters in these areas are paid large sums to rid the towns of these bothersome monkeys, and they have discovered a rather simple way to capture the monkeys – one that ingeniously, though sadly, uses the monkey against himself.
What the hunters do is take a coconut and make a small hole, one just large enough for the monkey's hand to go straight inside. They then use the monkey's favorite – nuts – and put a small handful inside the hallowed-out coconut. They then tie the coconut to a tree and wait patiently for the monkey to arrive, surely smiling to themselves and confident that the next monkey will face the same fate as the hundreds that went before him.
Expectedly, the monkey notices the coconut and sticks his hand in the hole to retrieve the delicious nuts. To his dismay, the monkey's clenched fist cannot exit the hole. He tries and tries to pull his fist from the hole, becoming desperate and frightened. The monkey holds on so tightly to the nuts that it's impossible for him to see how this,in fact, is the one thing that is preventing him from achieving freedom. It is his own rigidity, his own desperate clinging to the nuts, that thwarts his escape.
This monkey, like many who have gone before him, starts screaming and continue to try to pull his arm violently out of the coconut while his hand remains clenched, causing even more pain and suffering. Eventually tired and worn out from the struggle, the monkey simply surrenders to his fate and awaits certain capture. In doing so, the monkey ironically loosens his grip on the nuts and amazingly discovers that he is free once he stops trying so hard to be free.
This story was fresh in mind as I heard a quote from a missionary, Jim Elliot, who was killed in the 1950's while serving in Ecuador:
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.According to Elliot's own journal, he penned this thought after contemplating a Bible study on Luke 16, particularly verse 9:
Luke 16:9
New Life Version (NLV)
9
"I tell you, make friends for yourselves by using the riches of the world that are so often used in wrong ways. So when riches are a thing of the past, friends may receive you into a home that will be forever."This life lesson from the parable Jesus told sounds much like another message found in Matthew 6:
Matthew 6:19-21
New Life Version (NLV)
19
"Do not gather together for yourself riches of this earth. They will be eaten by bugs and become rusted. Men can break in and steal them. 20 Gather together riches in heaven where they will not be eaten by bugs or become rusted. Men cannot break in and steal them. 21 For wherever your riches are, your heart will be there also."Is there something you are holding onto? Something that is keeping you from being effective in sharing God's love with others? Just let it go...
If you've got a few minutes to listen to a song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cr5tgdLkSw
