The lure of dabbling …

Most people don’t intentionally set out to cause themselves great problems or bring harm to themselves. When such things are the result of choices we’ve made, it is often because we’ve given in to the lure “dabbling.”

That’s when we want to enjoy or engage in something we know isn’t good for us, but think we can dabble at the edges enough to get the pleasure we desire without getting hurt.

Life doesn’t work that way.

It certainly didn’t for the boy in this story:

It was a shocking tragedy. A 15-year-old boy was strangled by the family’s pet. The slender youth had gone to an upstairs bedroom to play with an 11-foot Burmese python. Nobody is sure how it happened, but the supposedly tame snake turned into a killer that took the boy’s life.

Why play with a powerful snake that can turn into a horrifying agent of death? Why even bring such a potentially dangerous creature into the house? This news story changes the old adage “Don’t play with fire!” into a flashing warning signal.

That “flashing warning signal” comes to us as a couple questions raised in Proverbs 6:27-28: “Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?”

When you dabble with danger — whether it’s an obvious risk or a subtle temptation — you’re playing with forces that can quickly spiral beyond your grasp. The real question isn’t whether you can manage the risk, but whether the fleeting satisfaction is worth the potential consequences. Wisdom avoids the edge altogether, knowing that some lines should never be crossed.

What are you dabbling with?

Scotty