Sermon Illustration

Pastors love using sermon illustrations, some of them are good, but many are fairly cheesy. So when the pastor at church on Sunday said he had a story about a turtle and a scorpion, I just rolled my eyes. But the simple story hit me and has been on my mind ever since. It goes as follows:

A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on its back across the river. "Are you mad?" exclaimed the turtle. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown." "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "If I were to sting you, you would drown and I'd go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?" "You're right," cried the turtle. "Hop on." The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle, resigned, said, "Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there is no logic in your stinging me. Why did you do it?" "It has nothing to do with logic," the drowning scorpion replied. "It's just my nature."

The illustration is to talk about how SIN is our nature, and it's completely true. We are slaves to sin, we can't even control it. So often we do things that hurt us and those around us, and we just keep doing them. There is no logic in it. There is ultimately escape though, and that is through a relationship with the perfect and holy Jesus Christ. Will you suddenly stop sinning completely? No, I think anyone can atest to that, whether christian yourself or if you've watched someone who claims to be a christian. It's still a constant battle with sin, but God will continue to work on your heart and make you new, forgiving all those sins until ultimately we can live with him, renewed, in heaven for eternity.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst." - 1 Timothy 1:15