Beautiful But Dangerous

           On a walk yesterday I saw my first lupin of the season beginning to bloom. These common roadside and field flowers are a little like lilacs in that their late spring bloom is bright, but relatively short. In reading a little bit about lupins, I learned that in some cases they have had culinary uses. The yellow legume seeds of lupins, commonly called lupin beans, were popular with the Romans, who spread the plant's cultivation throughout the Roman Empire. The name 'Lupin' derives from the Latin word lupinus (meaning "of or belonging to a wolf"). It was given this name because many found that the plant has a tendency to ravage the land on which it grows. The peas, which appear after the flowering period, were also said to be fit only for the consumption of wolves. Lupini dishes are most commonly found in Mediterranean countries, especially in Portugal, Egypt, and Italy, and also in Brazil. In Portugal and Spain they are popularly consumed with beer. In Lebanon, salty and chilled Lupini Beans are called "Termos" and are served pre-meal as part of a drink/appetizer. Lupins were also used by many Native American people in North America. Edible lupins are referred to as sweet lupins because they contain smaller amounts of toxic alkaloids than the bitter lupin varieties. Please note that I’m not writing about lupins to encourage anyone to eat them. In fact, just the opposite (unless you really know what you are doing). Lupins contain significant amounts of certain compounds that can be highly toxic and/or allergenic. Both sweet and bitter lupins in feed can cause livestock poisoning. Lupin poisoning is a nervous syndrome caused by alkaloids in bitter lupins. Poisonous lupin seeds annually cause the loss of many cattle and sheep on western American ranges.  

            Lupins are an example of something that looks harmless – even beautiful – but is dangerous if used (consumed) in the wrong way. We enjoy looking at them for a season, but should only go “so far” with them, right? It’s like the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God placed in the Garden of Eden, but forbade Adam and Eve to eat. It must have looked good and appealed to the eye. That’s what Genesis 3:6 tells us, anyway. What looked harmless had come with a warning from the Lord to them. But in their wisdom the lie of the serpent made more sense than the word of God. “It couldn’t hurt!” they thought.

            How many things in life do we look at… how many things are we attracted to… while at the same time listening to (usually an inner witness) the message, “It couldn’t hurt!”? We can be just as conflicted as Eve and Adam were. We know from the Word of God that something is “off limits”. It is not acceptable to Him. It is wrong in His sight. But it looks so good… even beautiful. It couldn’t really be all that bad! This temptation – just as it was for Adam and Eve – is a temptation to not believe God. To not trust God’s Word about anything is really the foundation of all sin. Acting, thinking, speaking… apart from faith (apart from God’s perspective and expectations in anything) will always lead us to sin. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. So faith means conforming our thoughts, words, and deeds to the Word of God. Sin comes about as a result of being attracted to something that “disagrees” with God’s Word. Then we are faced with a decision: “Do I believe God and trust in His word, or do I stray from that path and do what appeals to me?” God’s path is life. Any other path is death. The choice seems like it should be easy, but living by faith requires constant surrender to the Lord in a world that is constantly seeking to “conquer” us.

            But God gives us grace, and He gives faith to trust Him. In His love God raises us up to walk with Him. He has given us His Spirit, who helps us to walk by faith. He has given us His Word, and He has given us Christ’s Body – the Church, so that we might help one another. So let us help one another not to be fooled by the attractiveness of sin. Let us encourage one another to behold the beauty of the Lord and to see temptation for what it really is: a lie. And let us seek daily to live by faith and to walk closely with our God.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) ⁷  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) ⁶  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 PRAYER: “Father, take my hand and lead me, that I might live by faith… that I might know Your truth. And, knowing Your truth, that I will shape my thoughts, words, and deeds according to the reality of Your presence and will and not my own. When something that is not pleasing to You – yet is attractive to me – comes my way, help me to see Your beauty – a beauty by which all other things lose their attraction. May my desire be for You.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”

 Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott