In “A View from the Zoo,” Gary Richmond, a former zookeeper wrote, “Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months.
After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie.
She listened politely as I explained the coming danger.
I’ll never forget her answer: ‘“It will be different for me.’ She smiled and she added, ‘Bandit wouldn’t hurt me, he just wouldn’t.’
“Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the wild.”
Sin, too, often comes dressed in an adorable disguise, and as we play with it, it’s easy for us to say, “It will be different for me.”
I have seen many people destroy their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, through sin, addictions, and bad choices. They often say the same thing as Julie: “It will be different for me.”
I recently read a story of a scorpion who asked a beaver one day to take him across the river on his back. “Are you insane?” asked the beaver. “While I’m swimming, you’ll sting me and then I’ll drown.”
“Oh, come now,” laughed the scorpion. “Why would I sting you? Then I’d drown too. Come on. Be logical.”
“That makes sense,” said the beaver. “Hop on.” The scorpion climbed on the beaver’s back, but halfway across the river he gave the poor trusting beaver a mighty sting.
As they both sank to the bottom, the beaver asked, “Why did you do such a wicked thing? You said yourself there would be no logic in your stinging me.”
“Logic has nothing to do with it,” sighed the scorpion. “It’s just my nature.”
Romans 6:23 tells us the nature of sin is death.
No matter how many times we may say, “It will be different for me,” sin is no respecter of persons. But there is a way out! The rest of Romans 6:23 says: “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Jesus is the only One who can break the chain of addictions and set people free!

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.